According The world, an operator of the Samu affirms not to have had the authorization to intervene in Sainte-Soline, whereas the LDH requested the evacuation of an injured person. The prefect of Deux-Sèvres explains that such an order could have been given only to prevent the Samu or the firefighters from being attacked.
A recording obtained by The Monde and which ignites the powder, while two seriously injured demonstrators in Sainte-Soline are still between life and death. This Tuesday evening, the daily published the transcription of a telephone call, recorded by the League of Human Rights, between a doctor from the association and an operator of the Samu during the demonstration against the mega-basins, in the Deux-Sèvres.
On Saturday March 25, the doctor of the LDH, general practitioner in a health center, is posted in Melle, about fifteen kilometers from the demonstration, but is in contact with observers on the spot, in Sainte-Soline. He asks the SAMU for the immediate evacuation of an injured demonstrator.
“We do not have the authorization to send help on the spot”
According The world, this doctor has already called the emergency services, “first to ask for a helicopter, then because the LDH observers told him that help was not coming.”
At 2:50 p.m., he called the firefighters, then was put in touch with an Samu operator. “We had a doctor on the spot and we explained the situation to him, it is that we will not send a helicopter or Smur on the spot, because we have orders not to send any by the forces of order,” the operator told him.
“So I am with observers from the League of Human Rights who say that their observers on the spot say that it has been calm for thirty minutes and that it is possible to intervene,” replies the doctor.
“I agree with you, you are not the first to tell us. The problem is that it is at the discretion of the police as soon as we are under a command, which is not us”, explains the Samu.
The exchange continues, and questioned by the lawyer of the LDH Chloé Saynac, who was in the same room as the doctor, the operator of the Samu explains “that we do not have the authorization to send relief on the spot, because it is considered dangerous”.
“And if you don’t go, wouldn’t that be non-assistance to anyone in danger?” asks the lawyer. “We must have our rescuers safe too, unfortunately we don’t have permission to send them like that,” replied the operator.
“We do not have the authorization of all the institutions on the spot, for the moment, we are under their command”, he insists, before indicating that it is the “command on the spot” which ” deny access.”
Prefect’s right of reply
In a very long statementthe prefect of Deux-Sèvres brought this Tuesday evening her right of reply to this article of the Monde titled “Sainte-Soline: the recording which proves that the SAMU did not have the right to intervene”,
“The fundamental principle of rescue intervention in a hostile context is to guarantee first and foremost the safety of firefighters or Samu personnel”, recalls Emmanuelle Dubée.
“To do this, it is up to the police, informed in real time of the situation, to define whether or not the arrival of an emergency vehicle at a certain point is possible in a safe way for him”, continues the prefect.
“It is therefore not surprising that, if these security conditions were not met, the police forces could, for certain geolocations and in certain periods of time, indicate that an ambulance dispatch was not was not immediately possible.”
“We do not operate in an exclusion zone”
“It is therefore only to prevent the Samu or the firefighters from being attacked or collateral victims of violent clashes that this instruction could be passed, in a context where violent groups were moving very quickly”, concludes the prefect. , which also salutes “the unfailing commitment of the firefighters, the Samu and the police.”
“We do not intervene in the exclusion zone. There is no debate”, writes for its part the Samu on the social networks.
“We were not obstructed in the exercise of our function, but well provided care in particularly dangerous circumstances for our teams”, already affirmed the Samu at the start of the week.
However, the recording published by The world provoked many reactions, especially on the left. “In Sainte-Soline, the emergency services were prevented from intervening to rescue a man in absolute emergency by the police. A life shattered for nothing”, denounces the rebellious deputy David Guiraudwho asks Gérald Darmanin to “explain himself and if necessary, resign.
