“I had scabs all over my face. » Frédéric Louchart, elected municipal ecologist of Lille, would never have thought of receiving tear gas “in the face, at point-blank range” while having a drink in a bar. The scene, widely relayed by videos on social networks, occurred on Thursday March 23, around 7 p.m., on the porch of the L’Ecart café – which is located about 200 meters from the Place de République, the place of arrival of the procession of the demonstration against pension reform that day. He testifies in the video at the top of the article.
A helmeted policeman burst into the bar, looking for a man who would have spat on him a little earlier, before entering the establishment, explains to “Obs” the police headquarters of the North. ” The biker suddenly entered the cafe. His attitude was so out of step with the calm atmosphere that reigned that the people at the table got up, asking him to leave with more or less diplomacy. remembers the chosen one.
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In video relayed on Twitter, we can see the policeman verbally attacking a man in the back of the roadstead, before leaving the establishment in a hostile atmosphere. ” Go home ! », « It’s private property out here! “, we hear some customers launch.
A tense exchange on the porch of the bar
Arrived on the porch, the atmosphere becomes tense with another client. Despite the hubbub, we can make out some of their exchanges in a video posted by the League of Human Rights (LDH). The policeman shouts at him: I was there, you grabbed me from behind. » “You have nothing to do here », replies the customer.
Frédéric Louchart, who was right next door, claims to have tried to calm the situation.
“I asked the client several times to come into the bar, I had my palms in evidence to show that I was not hostile. In short, I tried to bring them back down. I didn’t have time! »
” Short of breath “
In a second, the scene changes. The policeman grabs the client, while his colleague uses tear gas directly in the face of Frédéric Louchart. “In the movement of the crowd, I grabbed on where I could, but I was not threatening. The moment I got the gas, it happened so quickly and so brutally that it took my breath away. I couldn’t see anything and I felt a strong burning sensation. Fortunately, I immediately felt that someone was coming to my aid,” remembers the municipal elected official.
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A few seconds later, another customer is also gassed at point-blank range just in front of the door, and a policeman simultaneously directs a salvo of gas towards the interior of the bar. THE videos bear witness to the reigning chaos. Both in the room and on the terrace, people cough, rub their eyes, glasses break, tables are overturned. The police, in number, then challenge the customer who had answered the biker. According to local investigative media mediacitiesother consumers are beaten with truncheons.
All these images which make it possible to reconstruct the unfolding of the facts, “the Obs” showed them to Patrick Brunetaux, researcher in political sociology and author of “Maintenir l’ordre” (Presses de Sciences-Po). For him, the close use of tear gas in this context was neither justified nor proportional to the threat.
“Burns all over the face”
“This sequence testifies to the problems of training, impunity and discretionary power within the forces of order. Result: the police are immediately authorized to attack citizens. In this case, there were other ways to proceed. There was no gradation in the use of violence, but an angry and immediate action. »
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Frédéric Louchart received three days of ITT in total. “For five days, my face was puffy, red, with scabs and burns all over. A scalded toad’s head, he quips. In a press release, the Lille Verte group, to which Frédéric Louchart belongs, demanded explanations from the prefecture on this “ disproportionate police intervention “. The chosen one “seriously considering” to lodge a complaint, he said to the “Obs”.
Contacted by “l’Obs”, the prefecture specifies that the operation does not concern the maintenance of order and affirms that “The respondent was arrested at the exit of the bar when he again outraged the police”. Asked about the consequences of the case and the close use of tear gas, she did not respond. According to Mediacités, the client arrested was placed in police custody for sixteen hours for “outrage and rebellion”, before being released. Contacted, the prosecution did not respond to requests for clarification from “Obs”.
