Violence of October 17: a teenager loses an eye in Mulhouse, the IGPN seized

The Mulhouse public prosecutor's office announced on Sunday that it had contacted the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) after a teenage girl was injured on the sidelines of the day of mobilization against the high cost of living and lost an eye. The public prosecutor's office has referred the IGPN delegation in Metz to "a blatant investigation into aggravated violence", said the city's public prosecutor, Nicolas Heitz, in a press release.

According to initial investigations, the victim is “a young woman aged 17, born in Mulhouse,” he said. “Unfortunately, despite the emergency surgery, the loss of his left eye is permanent,” he added. The investigations will have to “determine the precise course of events leading to this serious injury”, underlined the prosecutor. They “will necessarily be complex given the large number of people present and the extremely difficult nature of the law enforcement operations that were carried out,” he said.

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Four shops ransacked

The demonstration on October 17, which brought together a thousand people in the Haut-Rhin town, degenerated in the middle of the afternoon when groups provoked the police and attacked businesses and public property, the prefecture indicated on Saturday evening. The magistrate points out that a group of around 400 people had attempted to invade the station building.

The police then used “tear gas to protect travelers” and in return suffered “direct attacks and the throwing of pyrotechnic fireworks”. Part of this group then headed towards the commercial city center of Mulhouse, where the police again used tear gas "in the face of the attempted looting of several businesses", he said.

Later, around 5:50 p.m., a first report to the police information and command center reported a woman being taken care of by firefighters and seriously injured in the eye, he said. In addition to the attempted intrusion at the station, the prefecture reported four shops ransacked and bus and tram stop windows broken. Ten people were arrested, including six placed in police custody.