Two of the most widely circulated and controversial videos since the start of France’s high school student mobilization unfolded just minutes apart on Friday, October 2, in Belfort, eastern France. On the margins of a demonstration at the Lycée Gustave Courbet, a police officer was beaten during clashes — images Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez denounced as “unbearable” and “of rare violence.”
Two teenagers have been placed under formal investigation for aggravated violence. But one of them, aged 17, has also filed a complaint for “attempted murder,” accusing the same officer of trying to drown him during a filmed arrest near a stream just minutes earlier.
What Happened in the Footage Filmed Near the Stream?
This scene occurred first and was heavily shared on social media. It shows a police officer attempting to arrest the 17-year-old student near a stream. Before that, the officer had spent several seconds trying to restrain him in the water.
The footage, filmed from a distance with the protagonists obscured by vegetation, does not make it possible to state with certainty whether the young man’s head was submerged. The video then shows the teenager and the officer emerging from the stream, at which point the officer restrains him in order to handcuff him.
“The officer put him in the river. He plunged his head into the water to try to handcuff him. There were bubbles,” a student told Mediapart. He claims the teenager “struggled to get his head out of the water. At one point, we thought he wasn’t breathing anymore.”
Belfort prosecutor Paul-Édouard Lallois insisted on Sunday that nothing indicated the young man’s head had been submerged in the stream, noting that the water was at most 19 centimeters deep. The magistrate had earlier explained that the officer and the protester “fell into the stream, which is why you have, at a certain moment, a scene with the commander on his knees in the water and the individual sprawled in the water.”
According to the prosecutor, when investigators asked the suspect in custody “whether he thought the officer had tried to drown him, he answered in the negative.” Those claims were denied by his lawyer, Arié Alimi, who accused the prosecutor of lying and denounced “procedural irregularities” on BFMTV.
What Happened Next in the Footage Showing an Officer Beaten?
The second video, also widely shared, took place a few minutes after the arrest, around 9:15 a.m. It shows the same officer, head of departmental intelligence for the Belfort territory, escorting the arrested 17-year-old. According to the prosecutor, he had identified the teenager as one of the rioters taking part in projectile throwing and garbage bin fires alongside the student mobilization.
The officer is then suddenly knocked to the ground by a person dressed in black, who lands several punches to his face. At least two other people then kick him. The 17-year-old suspect — the one who had been arrested — admitted to delivering “two kicks to the head” and “expressed significant regret,” according to the prosecutor.
“He was KO, he wasn’t moving at all anymore,” an anonymous student told TF1, while the prosecutor said the officer suffered a “brief loss of consciousness.” He was given eight days of temporary incapacity to work.
Who Are the Individuals Involved?
The 17-year-old — the one seen in the stream footage and later in the beating of the officer — is of Bulgarian nationality. Enrolled at the Lycée Gustave Courbet, he had no prior criminal record. Held in custody until Saturday midday and then released without charges, he was arrested again and placed in custody on Sunday. His lawyer, Arié Alimi, said he speaks poor French.
Another teenager, aged 15 and in his first year at the same high school, was also arrested and placed in custody on Sunday. He likewise had no prior criminal record.
What Judicial Action Has Been Taken So Far?
Regarding the two students, the investigation was initially opened for attempted murder. But in the absence of “convincing evidence” of an intent to kill, the two teenagers were ultimately placed under formal investigation for aggravated violence, prosecutor Paul-Édouard Lallois said Sunday.
The 17-year-old was placed in pretrial detention. The 15-year-old was placed under judicial supervision, with a ban on demonstrating.
For his part, Arié Alimi, lawyer for the older teenager, announced that his client had filed a complaint for “attempted murder” and “complicity by instigation” on Sunday afternoon, asserting that his client “was the victim of an attempted drowning by a police officer.”
