Protests in Paris suburbs have led to the charge of four police officers accused of raping a 25 year old black man identified only as Theo. The rape, alleged to have occurred on February 2, sparked nearly two weeks of unrest. “Dozens” were arrested, according to BBC, after protests turned violent with individuals destroying cars, trash cans, and a bus, leading to injuries for the bus driver. According to the Local France, 2,000 protesters gathered in Bobigny on February 12.
The protests mainly occurred in the suburb Aulnay-sous-Bois, near the location of the alleged rape. According to BBC, the protests also vented frustrations over police brutality in the impoverished Paris suburbs, where unemployment in some areas hovers at 30%. Tensions surrounding race and immigrants are also a strong factor in the current unrest, BBC noted. “The feeling of humiliation is felt by people,” Abdallah Benjana, a former deputy mayor who lives in the neighbourhood, according to BBC and the Associated Press.“What are [the police officers] seeking? To provoke a spark? Isn’t there enough gunpowder in those neighbourhoods?” he said. “Unemployment, insecurity, high rents… no perspectives for future. They do that to a young man, it can only explode.”
Aside from rape, Theo also alleged the officers “racially abused” him, beat him, despite his claims that he was cooperating during an arrest, according to CBS. BBC included his claim that he was sprayed with tear gas.
Theo said he struggled to remain in view of closed circuit street cameras, and claims he asked officers why they were attacking him, BBC reported. “I fell onto my stomach, I had no strength left,” he said.
Following the arrest, Theo said a “much friendlier” police officer had him taken to the hospital after noticing his condition, BBC reported. Once there, the young man was taken into emergency surgery. He was kept in the hospital for over a week and doctors advised him not to work for the next 60 days, BBC said.
French President, François Hollande, visited Theo in the hospital five days following the alleged rape. He also visited Aubervilliers, one of the impoverished neighborhoods that has seen unrest since Theo’s arrest.
Allegations of police brutality have incited protests around the French capital before, the worst occurring in 2005, BBC reported. BBC also stated Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said the facts of the case must be established with “no ambiguity,” in hopes that clarity will quell public outrage.
Bloomberg reported that the protests drew the ire of candidates running in the nation’s general elections. “Security forces have been the target of gangs of scum that nothing seems to be able to stop anymore, and certainly not the courts in an overall context of decadence,” said National Front candidate, Marine Le Pen, in a statement on the protests. The National Front Party is characterized by its detractors as “anti-immigrant,” according to Bloomberg. Le Pen’s niece, Marion Marechal Le Pen, a National Front lawmaker, publicly stated “Support for Theo is an excuse to attack the cops.” Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon accused the legislator of “throwing oil on the fire” and “encouraging violence with her hate speech”.