The three men arrested this week as part of the investigation into the attack on LREM deputy Romain Grau, attacked a week ago in Perpignan by protesters against the health pass, were taken into custody this Saturday. They will be judged on Monday.
As a reminder, the facts took place on Saturday January 22. “I was working with Guillem Gervilla, parliamentary adviser to Éric Dupond-Moretti, when all of a sudden we heard a horde of people heading towards the office and then banging on the windows”, said the elected official, estimating the number of hostile demonstrators to more than 250.
“We went out to talk to them and there we were attacked very violently. They clearly wanted to crack us up with fairly heavy insults,” he added. “One of my neighbors intervened and got slapped. I received a punch on the chin”, had also specified the deputy.
On a video posted on Twitter by Guillem Gervilla, we can hear a man screaming “to death” and another shouting “did you vote for the pass?”. Shortly after the facts, Romain Grau had finally let it be known that he had been able to “exfiltrate upstairs” from his office.
Violence has no place in public debate.
To those who tried to bully us @RomainGrau and me this afternoon, you will not win!
In Perpignan, as elsewhere, our commitment to the service of the French is strengthened. pic.twitter.com/h8yyw62kHG
— Guillem Gervilla (@GuillemGervilla) January 22, 2022
A complaint lodged
The day after the events, last Sunday evening, the majority deputy, elected in 2017, announced that he had filed a complaint after “these intolerable violence”.
Then, this Thursday, two individuals were taken into custody. A third man was arrested the next day. The group was then taken into custody on Saturday.
The prefect of Pyrénées-Orientale Etienne Stoskopf condemned this week on Twitter “these acts unacceptable in democracy”, ensuring that “everything will be done to identify their perpetrators”. Investigations which probably led to the arrest of a third suspect.
In July 2019, the permanence of Romain Grau in Perpignan had been targeted by “yellow vests” who had broken windows and tried to set fire to the premises where the deputy was.