French lawyers to sue interior minister over protester ‘mutilations’
Lawyers for at least 18 people wounded during protests in France in recent weeks said on Friday they would sue the interior minister over his responsibility for alleged police brutality.
France has been rocked by high school student blockades and mass protests in recent weeks, less six months ahead of elections to replace centrist President Emmanuel Macron, with the far right leading in the opinion polls.
The high school student movement, which began with youths demanding better learning conditions, has ballooned to other parts of society outraged over the police’s perceived brutal handling of the teenagers as well as the rising cost of living.
Rights activist have accused law enforcement officers of disproportionately using force in these larger protests too.
“We now believe it is imperative to target the person responsible for these mutilations and massive damage, namely Interior Minister Laurent Nunez,” attorney Arie Alimi said at a press conference.
He said the lawyers would lodge a complaint with the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the only court able to deal with cases against sitting members of government.
“We are collectively bringing a case before the CJR against Mr. Laurent Nunez for the orders he gave to use weapons which he knows to be mutilating — which he knows to be weapons of war, which he knows must not be used for crowd control, and which he knows are used by no other country in Europe,” Alimi said.
Around ten of their clients have given their consent to sign this collective complaint before the CJR, the lawyers said.
Police blast ball launchers or grenades have caused at least 20 people — including many teenagers — to be seriously injured during protests since mid-September, according to an AFP count.
As of October 30th, police had opened 105 internal investigations into allegations of police brutality, according to a source close to the case.
Of those, 52 were linked to the high school student movement, 48 to violence during mass protests on October 17th and 18th, and five to incidents on October 24th.
