The woman who hit a firefighter during the May Day demonstration in Paris has asked for her trial to be postponed until June 1.
The protester suspected of having assaulted a firefighter during the May 1 parade in Paris was placed on Wednesday under judicial supervision pending her trial on June 1 before the Paris Criminal Court. After 48 hours in police custody, this 38-year-old woman was brought to the prosecutor’s office on Tuesday for an immediate appearance on Wednesday afternoon. On the videos taken during the May Day demonstration posted on social networks, we see the suspect, orange helmet on her head, trying to snatch the fire hose from a firefighter in the process of extinguishing a fire started by Some protestors. After several unsuccessful attempts, she strikes him twice on the helmet before being overpowered.
This gesture had aroused widespread condemnation on social networks, while the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had denounced “unacceptable violence”. At the hearing, Mrs. A., very tried, often in tears, appeared with her hair tied in a bun, with a denim jacket, and asserted her right to obtain the dismissal of her trial. She presented herself as “CDI employee trainer in the field of hygiene” after having been “caregiver during the Covid”.
Pending the hearing on the merits on June 1, the issue of this hearing was whether the defendant would be subject to a measure of constraint. The Paris prosecutor requested his placement in pre-trial detention until the trial, an “exceptional measure” legitimized according to him by the “certain form of dangerousness” of the defendant. “There are questions about Madame’s state of mind,” slipped the prosecutor.
Asked a little earlier by the prosecutor about her risk of reiteration of the facts, Ms. A. had replied: “I work, I have a permanent contract, I am a mother, I love my children”. One of his lawyers, Me Alice Becker, had reformulated the question of the public prosecutor: “Can you tell the court that you will no longer go to a demonstration?”. “It’s 100% sure, I sign all the documents for that,” replied the suspect.
“Destroyed” life
The court finally pronounced a judicial review accompanied by a ban on demonstrating in Paris and on possessing or carrying a weapon, as well as a medico-psychological expertise. One of the two lawyers for the mis en cause, Me Alice Becker, had estimated the life of her client “destroyed” by the 48 hours of police custody and the media coverage of the facts. Her colleague Me Aïnoha Pascual had mentioned the “complicated life of a single mother” of Ms. A., who is also soon to be summoned by the courts as a victim of violence, in another case.
On June 1, the hearing on the merits will address the charges of “violence against a person charged with a public service mission, contempt, rebellion, participation in a group with a view to committing violence or degradation during a demonstration and obstruction of the arrival of help intended to combat a disaster dangerous to people”.
Mrs. A “contests a large part of the facts”, has already said Mr. Becker. The “insults that we reproach him for, it’s not her”. Regarding the “violence, it did not take place at all as the media summary was made of it”. “I don’t understand how she could have hindered the rescue services since they are there, and the fire has already been extinguished,” she also said.
The two lawyers also announced a complaint against the Paris prosecutor’s office and the police, whom they accuse of “massive and scandalous leaks (of information) in this file” to “deplorable media coverage”. The victim firefighter has “moral damage” but no physical injury, said his lawyer, Me Jérôme Andréi, who also defends the Paris fire brigade, civil party.