On Tuesday, October 11th, 2005, my neighbors informed me of an eviction in progress against some families from the Ivory Coast living at 2, Passage du Gazomètre in Montreuil. My wife and I went there immediately to help them. We organized their personal items that had been scattered all over the street. Then we decided, together with the families of other neighbors in sympathy with them, to enter the community center Lounès Matoub at 46 Place de la République, in Montreuil, with the intention of providing shelter for these families, their children, and their property. We also contacted the mayor of Montreuil to inform him of their plight and the immediate necessity of finding housing for them. The inhabitants of the municipality and surrounding areas were united in a great movement of solidarity.
That afternoon the families were visited by a member of the city administration. He offered to house them for 3 days in a hotel in the department or in other suburbs located much farther awhile, although their children would still be obliged to continue their schooling in Montreuil. The families turned down his offer because the precariousness of their situation had not been addressed. The mayor's representative clearly indicated that the police would intervene if the families insisted on staying where they were. To prepare for that possibility, the families and their supporters decided to barricade themselves in the activity room of the community center.
The assault by the police began at 8 PM. The CRS (French riot police) broke down the doors of the activity room with a battering ram. At the same time the lights in the room were cut off. The children began crying. As we stood a bit to the side, holding up posters and reciting slogans protesting the eviction, the CRS encircled us. They were armed to the teeth, clubs, shields,helmets, visors lowered, reinforced knee pads, large wire cutters, etc. They proceeded to overturn all the tables and throw all the goods, sacks, plates and food into the air. After that they began pushing us all towards the exits. The doors to the kitchen were closed; we were concerned about the women and small children that had taken refuge there. We therefore formed a chain in front of the doors, both to protect them and to serve as witnesses to whatever violence might ensue.
In vain.
I was thrown to the floor and trampled. I picked myself up with great difficulty. To hurry me along, given that I was already bent double and suffering from shock, a CRS policeman lifted his club. However an officer indicated by a sign that I should not be struck. "Are you okay, sir?" he asked me. Taking me by the arm he directed me towards the door through which my wife and friends were being roughly pushed into the courtyard, either singly or in small groups.
I was one of the last to leave. Separated from the others I was pushed into the courtyard between two police flanks. Halfway towards the fence I noticed the police commisioner I'd seen that morning who'd presided over the expulsion on the rue du Gazometre . I went over to talk to him about the danger to the small children in the group. "Yes, yes, okay!" he said, "Get going!"
I was walking the rest of the way towards the fence when two CRS cops attacked me. I received a powerful punch on the nose. Then a third policeman, dressed in civilian clothing , came over and felled me to the ground with a brutal blow from his club on the left side of my head. As I staggered to get up I was shoved towards the exit and collapsed on the other side of the fence. My face covered with blood and almost unconscious I was picked up and taken to a chair on the terrace of the nearest cafe. The blood blinding me was wiped away. The fire station was alerted and it sent an ambulance that took me to the hospital in Montreuil.
The initial doctor's report states : head injury; facial injury with scar; cut upper lid of the left eye; hematoma of the left nasal orbit; hematoma with fracture of the nose; fracture of the 7th left rib; state of psychological shock; forbidden to work for 15 days, pending the next examination...
I had intended to file suit against (...X) for their acts of violence which can in no way be justified, in that I posed a threat to no-one at any time. Yet, as we all well know, if I make an accusation, the Ministry of the Interior will close ranks against me. Somehow it will be able to prove that I, a man of 68, with 80% disability, had savagely assaulted the honest guardians of the peace in the legitimate exercise of their duty. A day's work just like any other. No doubt some of them will be given supplementary vacations as needed. As a testimonial to my moral character I will only be able to plead my dubious professions of writer and film-maker, whose works include, among other things, my modest contribution at the festival of Dupont-LaJoie a film that drew the attention of my fellow citizens to the reassertion of racism in gentle France.