Farida Amrani, a member of parliament for La France Insoumise (LFI), was wounded on Saturday, November 7, when a firework mortar was fired into a hair salon in Évry-Courcouronnes, in the Essonne department south of Paris, according to accounts confirmed by the elected official and her lawyer.
In a Facebook post published late Sunday, Amrani, who represents the department’s first constituency, wrote that she had been “injured by mortar fire in a hair salon in Évry-Courcouronnes, alongside employees and clients who lived through a terrible moment.”
What Happened
According to a press release from Amrani’s lawyer, Louise El Yafi, the incident occurred on Saturday morning. The MP “was the victim of an attack of extreme gravity in a hair salon in Évry-Courcouronnes,” the statement said, adding that “one or more firework mortars” were fired into the interior of the establishment.
Surveillance footage shared by the elected official shows a person dressed in black opening the salon door, followed by violent pyrotechnic projections and smoke filling the small room. People inside the salon took refuge in the back room.
According to Le Figaro, only the MP was injured, suffering in particular burns to one of her thighs. “Honestly, we thought we were going to die. With the context and the Trappes attack, we were very scared. The salon is tiny, we had nowhere to hide,” Amrani told the press.
El Yafi said the images “testify to the violence of this attack and the mortal danger to which those present were exposed,” adding that “such an attack could have cost the lives of several people.”
Possible Targeted Attack
In her statement, Amrani’s lawyer noted that the MP had been a customer of the salon “for years.” The footage “also strongly suggests that Ms. Farida Amrani may have been specifically targeted,” El Yafi said.
The lawyer also stressed that “only women were present in the establishment at the time.” Amrani said her first thoughts were “with them.” According to Le Figaro and Le Parisien, the salon was women-only, a detail the lawyer did not confirm.
Complaint Filed and Investigation Opened
Amrani filed a complaint with police on Sunday. “What happened is of exceptional gravity and must not, under any circumstances, be trivialized,” her lawyer said.
The Évry prosecutor’s office subsequently opened an investigation, entrusted to the territorial criminal division, according to media reports. No suspect has been arrested so far.
Retaliation Theory Under Review
According to Le Figaro and Le Parisien, investigators are pursuing the theory of a retaliatory shooting linked to a nearby drug-dealing point.
El Yafi said the investigations “must identify the perpetrators, any accomplices or instigators, and their motives.” They must in particular “determine whether my client was deliberately targeted because of her political commitment, the exercise of her parliamentary mandate and/or her origin or her real or supposed belonging to a specific ethnic group or religion,” she said.
