Accidents on Saturday evening on the esplanade of the Invalides in Paris, where thousands of boys – many teenagers aged 15 – had met on social media for an evening “Project X” (named after the 2012 American film in which three high school students organize a party which becomes huge and degenerates). Around 11 pm some of the boys lit smoke bombs and the first crowds formed. The lawn in front of the Hotel des Invalides, not far from Napoleon’s tomb and the National Assembly, in the 7th arrondissement, is crowded every evening and many children but also families usually meet for picnics.
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Distancing skipped
Once the confinement was over, the Parisians tried to respect more or less the distances to the Invalides, but this habit jumped yesterday evening. The first policemen intervened to enforce the rules, some vans of the police forces were stoned and at that point the situation deteriorated. Riot police officers threw tear gas grenades and used the feared LBD (Lanceur de balles de défense) rifles that fired rubber bullets, responsible for hundreds of injuries during the yellow vests demonstrations. Until two in the morning, the urban guerrilla scenes to which Paris has been accustomed for years, were reviewed, with dozens of people running in the side streets and others trying to face the police. The protagonists of the clashes this time were not demonstrators or black bloc, the challenge to the police did not come from the “difficult suburbs” but in the heart of Paris, by children who are often minors. Nine injured policemen, and five arrests.
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June 28, 2020 | 11:36
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