Skip to Content

Yellow Vests. Screenshot from Facebook
Paris

Act XXIII: Journalists targeted by police in Paris

Journalists covering the Yellow Vest demonstration have reported that some of their colleagues have been arrested by the police. Others have been victims of police violence.

Published: April 21, 2019, 8:17 am

    Read more

    Several journalists were arrested by police on Saturday, April 20 during Act XXIII of the Yellow Vests, according to Le Parisien.

    According to the Paris daily, several independent journalists also reported police violence during tense stand-offs. On Twitter, several independent professionals maintain that some of their colleagues were arrested despite wearing their press armbands, a white helmet or carrying their professional equipment.

    The founder of independent media Taranis, Gaspard Glanz was be among those arrested by the police, as shown in a video posted on Twitter. On the images, he is handcuffed by police before being taken with them.

    A Le Figaro journalist was also handcuffed at the Place de la République, a colleague said. The colleague explained that “the non-compliant arrests have multiplied and my colleague from Le Figaro was attacked by a member of the police. I will broadcast the images this evening”.

    Earlier in the day, freelance journalist Alexis Kraland was reportedly arrested at the Gare du Nord while, according to a colleague, he had clearly indicated his profession. He adds that several colleagues tried to talk to the police before being ordered to leave so as not to be arrested .

    Other professionals denounced the violence, one of them claiming to have been shot at by a flashball while he was displaying a “press identity”.

    Another colleague said that a “journalist received a shot on the left hand, according to several witnesses. She was quickly taken to the Street Medics”. On a video posted on Twitter, a person wearing a white helmet actually seems to need urgent help and is put on the side by protesters.

    The SNJ, the top union of journalists, quickly reacted on the social network, calling on Christophe Castaner to provide explanations. “What justifies calling reporters, except to prevent them from working? Do not flout the rule of law Christophe Castaner! Prefecture of police, respect the freedom to inform!”

    In yet further worrying development, hospitals in Paris are listing the injured that participated in the Yellow Vest rallies. In a statement, the Assistance Publique-Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP) confirmed that the file was triggered by the Regional Health Authority “in the context of demonstrations of Yellow Vests”.

    But the Assistance Publique-Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP) rejected on Saturday, April 20, the accusations of  listing certain patients after a complaint against X was filed by a wounded.

    The injured person maintained that illegal data was being kept at the hospital where he had been treated. According to Le Canard Enchaîné, there is a list being kept by hospitals in Paris of people injured during demonstrations. This file, named SI-VIC, was put in place after the attacks of 2015 to facilitate the identification of victims of attacks.

    As reported by Le Parisien, the AP-HP explained in a statement entitled “development on an alleged patient registration”, that the use of the file was triggered at the request of the Authority Regional Health “in the context of the Yellow Vest events”.

    According to the statement, the latter is used “in case of exceptional health situations” or in a “major event likely to lead to a significant number of victims”.

    “A tool for health regulation and information, SI-VIC played its role in a period when any error in the care of patients would have been a factor in reinforcing violence,” the statement added. “In respect of medical confidentiality, it does not contain […] any data on the nature of the injuries taken care of “, it added.

    On February 9, Sébastien Maillet, a 30-year-old Yellow Vest, saw his hand destroyed by a GLI-F4 grenade during the movement’s Act XIII. Treated in a Parisian hospital, he lodged a complaint against X for “unlawful collection of personal data” and “breach of professional secrecy”, reported Europe 1.

    Maillet had his hand amputated after the incident and he believes that the SI-VIC file has been diverted from its original function, with the aim of “creating a list of activists”. According to him, his name has “certainly” been recorded in this file without his agreement.

    Thus, hospital staff allegedly violated “professional secrecy” by revealing the names of activists. “Political events like the ‘Yellow Vest’ movement reveal that administrators, senior officials, can behave like thugs by breaking the law and discriminating against politicians, and even more odious, even in public hospitals on wounded, some of whom are severely mutilated “, Arié Alimi, his lawyer said.

    According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, 27 900 people were mobilized in France, including 9 000 in the capital.

    Paris was the epicenter of the mobilization theis weekend.

    According to Le Parisien, several thousand people had left Bercy around 12:30 to go to the Place de la République. According to the latest figures of the prefecture, the police had carried out 189 arrests at 16:30, and 17 576 preventive controls, while some 110 people were taken into custody.

    The capital was again at the heart of the mobilization with four planned parades, but only two of them were allowed, including one from St. Denis Basilica. The other two, banned by the prefecture, included a departure from Bercy to join the Halles or Place de l’Etoile.

    The police mobilization was even higher with 60 000 police officers deployed throughout France and 5 000 members of the police, police and gendarmes, present in Paris.

    According to Franceinfo, the situation was tense in the early afternoon in the Bastille sector: a Franprix store was looted and street furniture was burned. Emmanuel Macron received the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner in the early afternoon for a “situation update” on the day of mobilization.

    Six metro lines were interrupted all day, including line 1 – the busiest – between La Défense and Chatelet. Stations were closed on several lines, particularly in the Champs-Elysées, Opéra and Louvre.

    The prefecture of police prohibited cars and two-wheelers to enter into several perimeters, in particular around the cathedral Notre-Dame, the palace of the Elysée and the Ministry of the Interior. At Place de la République the police used a water cannon in the afternoon. Demonstrators clashed with police at the Faubourg du Temple station while tensions had already occurred between the Bastille and Republic.

    According to Le Parisien, the mobilization of Yellow Vests was calm in Bordeaux, where 1 500 people gathered in the streets. In Toulouse, thousands of people gathered in the early afternoon and a demonstration took place Place Bellecour in Lyon.

    Consider donating to support our work

    Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.

    Keep ​your language polite​. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in​,​ for example​, ​Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.

    If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violation​s​ of​ any​ law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.

    If your comments are subject to preview ​by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.

    We reserve the right to del​ete​ comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.

    Europe
    DESTRUCTIVE HAILSTORMS will become more frequent and violent with increasingly larger hail, predicted solar researcher Valentina Zharkova back in 2019 when she stated that it's one of many signs of an impending Grand Solar Minimum. This is exactly what we have witnessed this year in both Europe and the world. Here is the German town of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria after a hailstorm on August 26th. Almost all rooftops and cars were damaged. The centuries-old church and monastery were damaged for the first time ever. Interestingly, the monastery was rebuilt in 1699 during the Maunder Minimum. Combined with heavy rainfall, extreme weather will devastate a significant portion of our food production. For instance, heavy rainfall destroyed a quarter of all crops in Greece in just two days in September. However, mainstream media remains silent. Photo: X @safe0007/Sandor Feher

    NOAA Predicts Zero Sunspots for Almost the Whole 2030s

    CLIMATEThe United States' government scientific organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), predicts zero sunspots from 2031 to 2040. This is an extreme situation that has not occurred in as long as humanity has been counting sunspots, and it leads us into uncharted territory in terms of our solar system. However, this prediction aligns with the warnings of the world-renowned solar researcher Valentina Zharkova for many years, who indicated in 2019 various signs of this catastrophic phenomenon, including the extreme hailstorms we have seen in Europe and the world this summer. The forecast and various observations this year give cause for very significant concern. In this unique analysis, Free West Media explains why.

    NATIONALIST COLLABORATION TAKES SHAPE. Six parties met in Budapest on August 26th to sign a joint declaration confirming the friendship and political unity among the parties. The goal is to either form a new group in the European Parliament after the EU elections in June next year or to reconstitute the existing Identity and Democracy (ID) group with the new parties. Pictured from left to right: Mikael Jansson (Alternative for Sweden), Thierry Baudet (Forum for Democracy, Netherlands), László Toroczkai (Mi Hazánk, Hungary), Kostadin Kostadinov (Vazrazhdane, Bulgaria), and Josef Nerušil (Svoboda a přímá demokracie, Czech Republic). Also included is Mass-Voll from the non-EU country Switzerland (inset image). Photo: Free West Media

    European Nationalist Parties Forge Cooperation Ahead of EU Elections

    EUROPEAN ELECTIONSOn Saturday, August 26, representatives of six European nationalist parties gathered in Budapest. The meeting was initiated by the Hungarian party Mi Hazánk and took place in the national parliament. Representatives of the parties signed a joint declaration that not only reaffirms the parties' friendship but also their unity on a range of complex political issues. A surprisingly clear and radical manifesto was established. The hope is that this cooperation will lead to success in the EU elections and eventually result in the formation of a group in the European Parliament. For Swedish nationalism, this meeting marks a success as Sweden, for the first time, has a party represented in a leading nationalist cooperation in Europe. Free West Media was present at this historic event.

    Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson participated in the Pride parade in Stockholm where Erdogan was ridiculed, something that Turkey took particularly badly. Photo: Nya Tider

    Turkey Believes Sweden Hasn’t Done Enough

    Sweden will have to wait a bit longer for NATO membership, according to Turkey's Justice Minister Jilmaz Tunc. First, Sweden must extradite the "terrorists" Turkey wants and stop the desecration of the Quran.

    Ka-52 crashes after being hit by a Swedish RBS 70. Russian sources report that one of the two pilots died in the crash. Image: Telegram

    Swedish Weapon Takes Down Russia’s Best Attack Helicopter

    The Russian attack helicopter Ka-52 is considered one of the world's best and has struck fear in Ukraine, where it has hunted down tanks and other armored vehicles, often beyond the range of many light anti-aircraft systems. However, it has met its match in the Swedish air defense missile system RBS 70, which has quickly led to significant losses for the Russian helicopter forces.

    Alternative for Germany held its conference during the last weekend of July in the thousand-year-old city of Magdeburg, located by the Elbe River in the eastern German state of Saxony. The first of the two conference days began with a strong program speech by the party's male spokesperson. Subsequently, party officials were elected and motions were addressed. The second day was entirely devoted to candidate selection and positioning for the EU election in June next year. Screenshot: AfD on Facebook

    Strong Confidence in German AfD

    Alternative for Germany (AfD) held a party conference on July 29-30 to select candidates for the upcoming EU election next year. EU Parliament member Maximilian Krah, belonging to the party's more radical, ethnonationalist faction, was appointed as the top candidate. The party's two spokespersons delivered powerful speeches criticizing the EU's failed migration policy and trade sanctions that isolate Europe and Germany from the rest of the world. They argued that it's time for the EU to return a significant portion of its power to national parliaments. However, they have dropped the demand for Germany to exit the EU.

    Maximilian Krah is one of the AfD politicians who is singled out as an ethnonationalist, as he has stated that there is a distinction between ethnic Germans and immigrants who have obtained German citizenship. Krah is a Member of the European Parliament and AfD's top candidate for the upcoming European Union election next year. Still image: AfD on Facebook

    The Establishment Wants to Ban Germany’s Second Largest Party – for the Sake of Democracy

    The rising popularity of AfD has raised strong concerns within the establishment. Despite lies and demonization in the media and isolation from the overall political establishment, the party continues to grow. Certain representatives of the party are accused of becoming increasingly "extreme," and in an unusual move, the influential weekly newspaper Der Spiegel demanded that AfD be "banned."

    FvD was quick to support the protests against covid restrictions. Today, the party also stands behind the farmers protests against the governments’ plans to close a big portion of the farms in the country for the sake of “climate”. The picture is from a protest against covid restrictions in Amsterdam in January of last year. Photo: Wion

    Dutch FvD break through the media blockade

    What is happening in the Netherlands? It is often difficult to follow events in other countries, especially when distorted by system media. We give Forum for Democracy (FvD) the opportunity to speak out on the political situation in the Netherlands and the staunch resistance they face in trying to save the country.

    Albert Bourla (l.) has close ties to Ursula von der Leyen (center). YouTube screenshot

    The Ursula von der Leyen Affair

    After a criminal complaint in Belgium against the President of the European Commission, the so-called SMS-case, now takes a new turn. The judge responsible for the investigation will likely gain access to the secret messages exchanged between Ursula von der Leyen and Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, at least if they haven't been deleted.

    Daniel Friberg, founder of the publishing house Arktos, tells Nya Tider that they intend to counter censorship by starting new ventures, including an online cultural magazine and an online university. Photo: Arktos

    Publisher of Unique Literature Worldwide Blocked by International Distributor

    Arktos has distinguished itself by publishing groundbreaking philosophers and social critics. Now, the publisher's international distributor has abruptly terminated the cooperation, and more than 400 already printed titles cannot reach their audience. There is strong evidence that the distributor has been under pressure, something that has also happened in Sweden. We have spoken with Arktos founder Daniel Friberg about the ongoing struggle for freedom of speech in a shrinking cultural corridor.

    Cardinal Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, is one of the Catholic bishops who signed the letter, which was read out in churches throughout Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland over the Easter weekend. Photo: The Catholic Church

    Care prompts bishops to criticize transgender ideology

    The Catholic bishops of the Scandinavian countries presented an open five-page letter criticizing transgender ideology on March 21, just before Easter. The document primarily expresses care and advice and was read aloud in Catholic churches in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Cardinal Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, is one of the signatories of the document.

    Go to archive