The French national police inspectorate (IGPN) has been tasked with investigating how a 17-year-old girl permanently lost the use of her left eye during a demonstration in the eastern city of Mulhouse, the local public prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday, October 18.
The injury occurred during the cost-of-living mobilisation held on Saturday, October 17. According to the prosecutor’s office, the teenager was treated by firefighters at around 10 p.m. and taken to hospital.
Probe to Establish “Precise Sequence of Events”
Investigators will work under the direction of the prosecutor’s office to “establish the precise sequence of events that led to this serious injury.” The prosecutor acknowledged the inquiry would be “complex given the large number of people present and the extremely difficult nature of the crowd-control operations carried out.”
It is the third case referred to the IGPN for the single day of Saturday, October 17, following the loss of a hand by a demonstrator in Saint-Étienne and a serious head injury suffered by another protester in Paris.
Tensions Near the Railway Station
In Mulhouse, the demonstration took place near the SNCF railway station, drawing around 1,000 participants, according to the prosecutor’s office. A group of roughly 400 people moved “towards the station in an attempt to storm the building,” the prosecutor said.
Officers deployed tear gas to “protect travellers” and came under fire from pyrotechnic projectiles, the prosecutor added. Police also had to contend with “attempted looting of several shops.”
The IGPN inquiry adds to a growing list of investigations into policing during the nationwide day of action, which saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets and was marked by violence and vandalism in several cities.
