“We expected it, but not in this way. This morning, the garbage collectors on strike at the Ivry-Victo-Hugo garage were dislodged by the police. On strike since March 6, they held a picket in front of the facilities that house 80 dump trucks from the City of Paris.
“We suspected they were going to come but we didn’t think it would be so violent”, commented Didier Labruyère, Force Ouvrière union representative on the site. Cyril, an agent present on the scene when the CRS recounts the events of the morning: “Shortly before 8:30 a.m., a garage manager came to warn us that the police were on their way. We therefore asked everyone present on the picket and outside the site to move away. »
Tear gas and exchange of blows
Because the agents are not the only ones to hold the garage for several days. Teachers, college students and other civil servants take turns to help the strikers block the garage. “At that time all the agents present on the site declared themselves on strike, to avoid being dislodged”, adds Cyril.
But at 8:30 a.m., when the CRS arrived, the garbage collectors were surprised to find themselves trapped by a cordon of CRS who pushed them inside the garages. “As soon as we told them we were on strike and that they couldn’t go against it, they started throwing gas at us and getting into the crowd. »
The strikers testify to violent beatings and brutal methods used against them: “It was hitting in all directions. We have several injured colleagues, one was hit in the face and injured in the mouth, another took a blow to the nose which could be broken. For others it’s kicks to the shins. A 61-year-old colleague was repeatedly chased and gassed as he put his hands up and didn’t block anything. »
“In twenty-nine years of service, […] I had never seen such violence”
Stunned, Cyril is struggling to recover from the events: “in twenty-nine years of service, I have experienced several strikes, I had never seen such violence. Even a non-striking supervisor was gassed through his office window. »
In the middle of the day, the police held the garage, located a few hundred meters from the incinerator of Ivry-sur-Seine, also blocked by the demonstrators.
The prefect of police of Paris, Laurent Nuñez, had announced this Thursday the requisition of garbage collectors to clear the streets of Paris, forcing Anne Hidalgo to send him the list of the 4,000 cleaning agents of the city services.