Belfort: two arrests after the attack on a police officer during demonstrations

Two of them were arrested. Accused of having violently beaten a police officer in Belfort on Friday, during clashes between demonstrators and the police on the sidelines of the high school movement, the two suspects were placed in police custody.

An investigation into attempted murder has been opened, said the prosecutor, Paul-Édouard Lallois.

“Rare violence”

The police officer was beaten up by several people after an attempted arrest on the banks of a stream. A first video shows him struggling with a young man, before managing to immobilize him on the bank.

In a second video, we can see this same police officer, in plain clothes, being beaten up by several people. The scene went viral on the networks and caused a strong reaction, even in Beauvau. “These images of rare violence are unbearable,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez immediately wrote. “The intentionally targeted police officer was hospitalized after losing consciousness. Fortunately, his condition no longer causes any major concern at this time,” he added.

The prosecutor denied claims that the police officer put the young man's head under water while trying to control him before the attack.