The story dates back to May 9, 2019. Four activists from the Solidaires and FSU unions are implicated for violence, insult, and rebellion against members of the Alliance police union.
Around thirty people came to show their support for Olivier and Delphine, history and geography teachers at Calmette High School, as well as Alec and Dany, students and members of the Solidaires union. Later in the evening, around midnight, the decision was announced! Olivier was sentenced to six months of suspended prison and two months of suspended for Alec, Delphine, and Dany. They will also have to pay a fine of 7,000 euros to six of the seven police officers who joined as civil parties. Attorney Mireille Damiano indicated that she intends to appeal this decision.
A provocation as the reason for the conflict
According to the defendants, members of the Alliance police union inserted themselves into the parade to taunt the demonstrators. “The Alliance police union positioned itself behind the FSU parade specifically to provoke when it was not invited to the demonstration. It was the CFE CGC that was invited to demonstrate, not Alliance,” recalls Alec.
Subsequently, everything happened very quickly, still in “calm” but the tone escalated: “We chanted two non-offensive slogans against the police (‘Police everywhere, justice nowhere’). I remind you that it’s a phrase by Victor Hugo that he uttered at the National Assembly on April 8, 1851, under the government of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. Later, we said, ‘They kill, they wound, down with the CRS, and they fire LBD, down with the coppers’. At that moment, we didn’t know we were already surrounded by the BAC. At that moment, I didn’t know that two of my friends, Alec and Dany, had been taken by the police at the end of the demonstration. Subsequently, two police officers came to see me. They told me that I had committed an insult. I replied no. ‘We criticize the police, but you also have the right to criticize us, it’s democracy.’ They wanted to check my belongings, yet the tone did not rise. They told me I had to follow them, I didn’t want to, so I refused. They then wanted to take me by force, putting me in an arm lock, choking me, and pinning me down. I didn’t understand why such a series of violence.”
Unfounded accusations
The defendants deny everything outright and denounce facts invented to manipulate the case. “I contest everything and on my behalf, I have filed a complaint for violence committed by persons holding public authority. I don’t know, because it’s the first time I’m in a court and undergoing a trial. I hope the truth will come out and we can show that there was nothing on our part. Thus, we will finally talk about the abuse of power by certain police officers, and I don’t put them all in the same box.”
The highly criticized Alliance police union
The demonstrators accuse the latter of always being repressive and being close to far-right circles. “In response to this, the police in Nice criminalize union action. We know that the Alliance union has very close ties with reactionary political leaders like the deputy Eric Ciotti,” declares Alec.
National support from the concerned unions
As a reminder, an initial hearing was held on December 19, 2019. At that time, unionist Philippe Poutou came to support the four accused. This time, among the national representatives, there was Simon Duteil, national secretary of the Solidaires Union. He wanted to encourage his comrades. “What is shocking is to be arrested in such a brutal manner during a demonstration and to be injured.”
Regarding these accusations: “We’ve been used to this lately. Your fellow journalists have shown that these are serious accusations that are often unfounded and used for repression. Typically, when we see what happened with the images and when we question people, we are often dealing with repression against trade unionists who may displease but who, nonetheless, have not done anything illegal.”
