a police officer has filed a complaint for violence against LFI deputy Eric Coquerel

A police officer filed a complaint against the deputy La France insoumise Eric Coquerel, learned Monday March 20 franceinfo from a source close to the file. The Bobigny prosecutor’s office tells franceinfo that it has opened an investigation for intentional violence against a person holding public authority. The investigation is entrusted to the territorial security.

The facts happened Monday morning on the Veolia site in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). The police were present to unblock a garbage truck depot. Eric Coquerel was there too, he was wearing his tricolor scarf. In his complaint, which franceinfo was able to consult, the police brigadier indicates that the deputy punched him in the face. “After advancing and then retreating in the face of resistance from demonstrators, Eric Coquerel […] had both hands at face level and clenched fists”explains the policeman.

“It was then that Mr. Coquerel […] struck me with the back of his clenched fist, more precisely with his knuckles” at the height of the left cheekbone, says the policeman. “I then verbally advised him that he had hit me. He was saying, I quote, ‘No, I was going to fall.'” The brigadier specifies that neither he nor Eric Coquerel could fall to the ground or be unbalanced insofar as both were “very close to the other people on site”.

“I formally deny”

The policeman’s ITT does not exceed eight days. In a press release sent from Eric Coquerel, the rebellious deputy explains that he surrendered “in support of the garbage collectors of the Veolia garage”. He tells : “As soon as I arrived, I found myself, with my colleague Bastien Lachaud, facing the police strongly pushing back the demonstrators.” He claims to learn “with amazement that a police officer would have filed a complaint against me”. “I formally deny this accusation”he wrote.