Car Set Alight in Paris Suburb During Anti-Police Protest

A complex situation in Paris was made much worse by the government's absurd attempt to 'downplay' an horrific event

Parisiens have endured a long state of emergency that exists in France because of the threat of terrorism, a threat made very current by the arrests yesterday of four conspirators. On Feb. 2nd, during an ID check, a young black man was hit with a baton on the buttocks, his pants were dropped and he was, apparently, raped by the baton of a policeman. 

This was bad enough but then the police said that his pants fell down on their own, and the government backed the police claiming that the rape was 'unintentional'. How absurd! Did they actually think Parisiens were stupid enough to fall for that?

Thanks to social media, a protest against police violence was quickly organized. Except for the car-burning, the protest was kept under control. Nevertheless, this makes a statement that when people, even police officers, do something heinous, it has to be admitted openly and honestly. 

Covering up assaults, whether by police or asylum seekers, will turn people against those who are stupid enough to hide the truth. Media, police, governments will not be trusted.

Protesters against police violence have set a car on fire during a rally in the Paris suburb of Bobigny, which followed a police officer’s assault on a 22-year-old man.

Dozens of young people have occupied an empty lot in Bobigny in the prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis department. Some of the protesters have been carrying banners saying “Justice for Theo,” the name of the young man who was sexually assaulted by a police officer with a truncheon.

Hundreds of people gathered in Bobigny not far from the courthouse earlier today to protest police violence, Le Parisien reported. The demonstration began peacefully, but turned violent at around 3pm local time.

“We decided to organize this gathering. The announcement has been running on Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat… it made some noise, it shows how much people can’t stand this situation anymore,” one of the organizers said, according to France Bleu Paris.

The 22 year-old man, identified only as Theo, was attacked with a baton during what police later said was an ID check in Aulnay-sous-Bois (another Paris suburb), on February 2.

A CCTV camera footage shows a police officer “applying a truncheon blow horizontally across the buttocks with a truncheon” and after that Theo’s pants “slipped down on their own," a police source cited by AFP said.

Judging by eyewitness accounts and the video, “there are insufficient elements to show that this was a rape,” the source added.

One of the police officers was charged with rape and three others with aggravated assault. The case is currently under investigation.

Theo believes that the police officer used the baton “on purpose,” television station BFM quoted him as saying.

After a search, Theo was handcuffed and taken to a police car, where officers again insulted him, spat at him and gave him beatings.

At the police station, another officer saw his injuries and he was sent to the hospital where he was treated for an anal tear.

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