French justice announced Monday the opening of an investigation into the violence that erupted during the first rally of the presidential campaign of the far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour.
The 63-year-old former television columnist launched his presidential race last Tuesday. He held his first campaign rally on Sunday, at the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte, about twenty kilometers northeast of Paris.
An investigation was opened into “the acts of violence committed inside the rally” and entrusted to the police of the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, where Villepinte is located, the public prosecutor said on Monday.
The investigations are divided into two investigations, according to the prosecution: one relates to violence against activists of the SOS Racisme association present at the first public meeting of the presidential campaign of Mr. Zemmour, the other on those aimed the candidate by an individual who grabbed him before he entered the scene.
Videos of these two sequences were posted on social networks.
The man who grabbed Mr. Zemmour on Sunday was immediately exfiltrated and then arrested by the police.
His custody, for suspicion of “violence with premeditations” committed on Eric Zemmour, has been extended, indicates a statement from the prosecution.
The candidate’s entourage indicated that he suffered from a wrist injury and had been prescribed nine days of temporary interruption from work (ITT). But the prosecution said for its part that the certificate provided had not been established by a medico-judicial unit empowered to determine the ITT for criminal prosecution.
Violence also erupted on Sunday at the start of the speech of Eric Zemmour, twice convicted of incitement to racial hatred, when a dozen activists from the SOS Racism association present in the public unveiled T-shirts forming the slogan “No to racism”.
They were beaten and targeted by throwing chairs, according to the video released by the anti-racist association. Five people were injured, two of whom were taken care of by firefighters, according to the same source.
Several chases took place at the back of the room to exfiltrate them, in a confusion that lasted about ten minutes.
Journalists were also taken to task during the rally, including a team from the program “Quotidien”, known for its acerbic and ironic tone, and two journalists from the news site Mediapart who were hit in the back of the head.
The latter filed a complaint on Monday, according to a document consulted by AFP.
Mr. Zemmour, who defended in his speech to be “a fascist, a racist, a misogynist”, affirms to want “to save France” and its values threatened, according to him, by immigration and Islam.
The left has denounced its responsibility in these violent incidents, but the right and the far right have described the action of SOS Racisme as “provocation”.
A total of 68 people were taken into police custody on Sunday, in particular for “participation in an armed gathering with a view to committing violence or degradation”, “outrages” and “rebellions”, said the prosecution. Monday evening, only six police custody were extended.