What we know about the discovery of five coffins in front of the Eiffel Tower bearing the inscription “French soldiers of Ukraine”

Three suspects were taken into custody for “premeditated violence”.

A strange affair against a backdrop of suspicions of foreign interference. The Eiffel Tower was the scene of a macabre display on Saturday June 1st. Five coffins covered with a banner bearing the inscription “French soldiers of Ukraine” were discovered at the foot of the monument, franceinfo learned from a police source. We summarize for you what we know about this affair.

Coffins filled with bags of plaster

It was 8:50 a.m. Saturday morning when two people got out of a white van parked at the corner of Quai Jacques Chirac and Allée Jean Paulhan to place five coffins on the sidewalk. The latter are decorated with French flags and the inscription “French soldiers of Ukraine”. According to the operations of the technical and scientific police, the coffins contain bags of plaster intended to make people believe that they are not empty.

Suspects arrested shortly after the incident

The driver of the van, checked immediately, assured the police that he had been paid 40 euros to drop off the two people and the cargo. He said he had arrived from Bulgaria the previous night. A few hours later, the two men suspected of having placed the coffins were in turn arrested by police officers from the anti-crime brigade of the 12th arrondissement of Paris using the surveillance system. The two suspects initially managed to escape before being found at the Bercy bus station, with the intention of taking a bus to Berlin in Germany.

Three people presented to an investigating judge

The two fugitives, born in Germany and Ukraine, as well as the driver of the van, of Bulgarian origin, were placed in police custody for “premeditated violence”. They were brought to the courthouse on Sunday evening with a view to opening a judicial investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Monday. The investigations were entrusted to Paris territorial security.

One of the three men arrested was linked to one of the people suspected of having painted red hands on the Holocaust memorial in Paris in mid-May, according to a police source contacted by franceinfo. It was the analysis of the Bulgarian driver’s phone which made it possible to establish a link with this man, again according to this police source.

The trail of foreign interference under study

For the moment, no avenue has been ruled out, including that of potential foreign interference, while this incident echoes two recent cases in which similar suspicions weigh. On the night of May 13 to 14, red hands were sprayed on the Holocaust memorial in Paris and the police suspect three people having fled abroad. In October, after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, Stars of David were stenciled on several building facades in the Paris region.

The facts, for which a Moldovan couple was arrested, were attributed by the French authorities to the Russian security services (FSB). In both cases, Stéphane Séjourné, Minister of Foreign Affairs, estimated in mid-May that it was a question of “sponsors paid to destabilize and press on the divisions in French society”. He has not yet commented on the matter of the five coffins placed at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.