On again, Paris is burning. Beginning in early February, demonstrators have been angrily protesting the police and how they treat those they are supposed to protect and serve. But, while those violent anti-police protests had been contained in the suburbs, they’ve now spilled into the French capital.
Demonstrators gathered in the neighborhood of Barbes, near Paris’ Gare du Nord train station, angry about the alleged rape of a 22-year-old black man by police. It’s alleged that four police officers threw Théo to the ground, beat and raped him, leaving him with injuries so severe he required surgery.
While an investigation is ongoing, the police have claimed the anal rape by an officer, with a truncheon, was a mistake. An initial investigation found “insufficient evidence” to support the man’s claim that he had been deliberately sodomized. However, now, all four officers involved have been “charged with aggravated assault, while one was also charged with rape, according to the Interior Ministry.”
“They demanded justice for the victim, identified only as Théo, chanting ‘We do not forget we do not forgive.’Amid a sea of signs and banners at the Paris protest on Wednesday night, one stood out: “F*** the police by accident.” The message, scrawled in black ink on cardboard, hit back at the way authorities have described the incident.”
“Speaking at the National Assembly on Tuesday, French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux labeled the alleged sexual assault a “tragic accident.” He later walked back the comments in a statement on Twitter.”
