Urban violence in Paris: two investigations opened after the death of two men, Saturday and Monday

Two investigations have been opened to determine the causes of the death of two men in Paris, one Saturday, and the second during the night from Sunday to Monday, both probably following illness, we learned Tuesday from the Paris prosecutor's office and the police headquarters. “The criminal department of the Paris public prosecutor's office was informed” on Saturday evening “of the death of a man on rue du Château-d'Eau (...) as a result of probable illness,” said the public prosecutor's office. This artery starts from Place de la République in the 10th arrondissement, one of the epicenters of Saturday's violence.

The Paris prefecture (PP) specified that at 6:20 p.m. on Saturday the firefighters had been called for a “59-year-old man unconscious on the public road at the corner of rue Lancry and boulevard Magenta”. The same source added that “given the degraded security conditions in the surrounding area, the victim was moved to the Château-d'Eau rescue center where she died at 6:55 p.m. despite the help,” we added.

The victim was transported “by the firefighters to the Forensic Institute,” continued the prosecution. “An investigation into the causes of death has been opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office,” he continued. In addition “Monday at 1:10 a.m., rue Berger”, in the Halles district, a 48-year-old man died as a result of feeling unwell on the public highway despite the rapid intervention of the firefighters”, according to the PP. An investigation was also opened, according to this source, to investigate the causes of death.

The two investigations “were opened into these two deaths which occurred on public roads without any third party responsibility being suspected at this stage”, we added to the PP. The police headquarters also noted that “rumors had circulated on social networks claiming” that the victim who died in Château-d’Eau was “a young man taken into the care of the police”.

A “young man”, who did not die, was indeed “treated by the firefighters”, but he was not “taken care of” by the police, assured the PP. “Declaring himself a victim of violence, an investigation was opened,” the same source said.

A little earlier, the prosecution had indicated to the press that it was continuing its "verifications" concerning two other pieces of information which had widely circulated on social networks: the case of a "street-medic", a volunteer for first aid to demonstrators, whom images show receiving numerous blows from the police at Place de la République, as well as that of "an alleged death in Paris on Sunday".