what we know about the tensions and violence that occurred at Eric Zemmour’s first meeting

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After many public meetings that looked like a pre-campaign, Eric Zemmour held, Sunday, December 5 in Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis), his first meeting since the formalization of his candidacy, in front of 12 to 13,000 people, according to the journalist from franceinfo on site.

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The event was marked by many incidents. SOS Racisme activists were beaten as they attempted a happening. Journalists have been targeted by demonstrations of hostility. And Eric Zemmour was grabbed by a member of the public and injured in the wrist in the crush. On Monday, the Bobigny prosecutor’s office announced the opening of an investigation into “the acts of violence committed inside the meeting”. Franceinfo takes stock of what we know about these different episodes.

A demonstration of dispersed opponents

At the start of the meeting, opponents of its holding gathered around the Paris-Nord Villepinte exhibition center. They were dispersed by the police. On Monday, a source close to the investigation reported 55 people in police custody, mostly for participating in this rally, which had been banned. A freelance photographer journalist in particular affirmed having been placed in police custody and then released, after an arrest filmed by webtv Le Média.

Another procession marched through Paris, to La Villette, where the Zénith de Paris is located, the room where Eric Zemmour’s meeting was initially supposed to take place until his last-minute trip. About 2,200 people marched, and two were arrested, according to the police headquarters. The organizers claimed 10,000 participants.

Journalists booed and exfiltrated

From the start of the rally, journalists were confronted with hostility from the crowd. A team of the show “Quotidien”, which questioned supporters of Eric Zemmour, was booed by the crowd, who chanted “‘Daily’, collaborators” and “Everyone hates ‘Daily'”. The scene was notably filmed by a journalist from franceinfo.

These journalists were exfiltrated by the meeting’s security teams, in a very tense atmosphere, observed the franceinfo reporter on the spot. This is also what appears on the images of Remy Buisine for Brut.The Parisian and The Obs claim that these journalists were then able to return to the room. “Security overreacted. They came back. There was no violence.“, assured the communication team of Eric Zemmour quoted by AFP.

Mediapart affirms moreover, that two journalists from his online program “In the open air” have “received anonymous blows” at the same time and that a participant in the meeting, seeing them pass, spoke aloud about the advisability of a “ratonnade”.

Hostility to the media was also invited to the platform of the meeting, where Eric Zemmour made them boo by the crowd on several occasions. Before him, the former MEP Paul-Marie Coûteaux had called them “propaganda technicians”.

Eric Zemmour jostled and injured in the wrist

Earlier, as he walked towards the stage greeting the audience, Eric Zemmour was grabbed by a man coming out of the crowd. An image attributed by AFP to one of the organizers of the meeting, Olivier Ubéda, shows this man passing over the first row of spectators, putting his arms behind the candidate’s neck and pulling him towards him. He was immediately seized and overpowered by security.

This video alone does not shed light on his profile or the motivation for his gesture. According to our information, this man was taken into custody and was still there on Monday morning. A source close to the investigation describes him as a man “middle-aged” and reports that he says he is “grave” on the candidate.

Eric Zemmour’s entourage told Franceinfo that the candidate was injured in the wrist during this incident, and was prescribed nine days of ITT (temporary incapacity for work) by a doctor. But the forensic examinations had not yet been carried out on Monday noon, according to the same source close to the investigation. The duration of the ITT observed may have an impact on the penalty incurred in the event of possible prosecution. Olivier Pardo, Eric Zemmour’s lawyer, confirmed to franceinfo the filing of a complaint by his client for “aggravated violence with premeditations and ambush”, already announced at Parisian.

SOS Racism activists beaten

During Eric Zemmour’s speech, members of the SOS Racisme association appeared at the back of the room. Images published by the organization, and those of the independent journalist Clément Lanot, show them forming a line, chanting “No to racism” and deploying the same message on their T-shirts. Twelve people were present, one per letter of the message, explained one of them. to raw online media.

Several of these activists were then attacked. The footage shows, among other things, a man punching a young woman twice in the face, then another man punching her in the head again. An activist is filmed by the Huff Post receiving a blow in the face and then, while on the ground, a kick in the back. Others are violently jostled and several chairs are thrown in the direction of these opponents of Eric Zemmour.

The members of SOS Racisme were quickly extracted from the meeting, surrounded by dozens of supporters of the candidate who had abandoned the ranks of the public. The footage shows at least two activists falling to the ground during their expulsion. Two of them also appeared with bloody faces when they left the room. On Twitter, SOS Racisme claims that five participants in the action were injured, two of whom were taken care of by firefighters.

“We got screwed”, reacted, in an interview with Brut, one of the demonstrators affected, defending an action “deeply peaceful”. “This will be the subject of complaints from militants attacked to determine who the attackers are and whether they are answerable for their actions.”, added the president of the association, Dominique Sopo. An investigation into this violence has been opened, the Bobigny prosecutor’s office announced Monday to Franceinfo and France Televisions. According to a source close to the investigation, “a handful” activists, “less than six” in total, were handed over to the police by the security of the meeting, and placed in police custody.

Asked about this violence at the end of the meeting, Eric Zemmour did not answer. “If there was excessive use of force, I regret it” but the victims “did not have to be there, we must not come and make provocation in our room”, reacted a member of his campaign team, Antoine Diers. Huff Post images show a person, obviously a member of the security of the rally, congratulating the crowd for their participation in the expulsion of the anti-racists: “Without you it would have been complicated. You did the job.”


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