The interior minister was much criticised Thursday 2nd May, 2019 after a video and testimonies contradict his version of an “attack” of the Parisian hospital, le Pitié-Salpêtrière on May 1st.
Dozens of protesters have broken into the grounds of the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in the Parade of the 1 st May, a qualified incident of “attack” by the Interior Minister Christophe Castaner .
But his version was contradicted Thursday, May 2 by testimonials and videos relayed on social networks, causing strong criticism against the government.
The Paris public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation , with around 30 people being held in police custody for the purpose of committing degrading or violent acts. Territorial Security has been seized.
The Director General of the Paris Public Assistance-Hospitals, Martin Hirsch, who announced that he wants to lodge a complaint, emphasized the “particularly vulnerable” nature of the patients in charge of this service and reported “immensely” videosurveillance images. “.
A video shot by caregivers
But since then, the video of a caregiver of the resuscitation service , relayed on Facebook, has come to contradict the version of an attack and support that of a panic movement advanced by several witnesses.
According to them, protesters may have sought refuge in the hospital compound to escape the security forces or air saturated with tear gas.
It shows protesters suddenly fleeing to caregivers posted on a bridge serving the emergency exit of the Resuscitation Department, while police enter the site. After retreating into the building, the caregivers block the door while the first protesters arrived on the bridge pull on the handle.
There are about twenty in total, among them some “yellow vests”, for some elderly, to whom the carers explain why they can not return. After a minute, police arrive on the bridge and start evacuating them calmly.
“There was nothing violent, at least towards us,” said nurse Jerome Lecrecq.
“It was more a state of panic, the fear of being beaten, to receive something from the police, than an attack.”
The 32 kept in custody
For its part, the AP-HP spoke Thursday of “damage” and a theft committed to the Pitié-Salpêtrière, while stating that “at this point no link could (can) be made” with the incident of May 1st.
On Wednesday, “in the course of the afternoon, a video projector located in the staff room of the department of digestive surgery was torn from its base and stolen,” said the management.
“There was no damage in the resuscitation,” found on the spot the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn.
The Paris prosecutor said early Thursday evening that the 32 police custody ordered in connection with the investigation of this intrusion had been lifted . Investigations continue “to shed light on all the circumstances of the intrusion into the institution,” added the prosecutor.
“Oil on the fire”
While political reactions initially focused on the alleged exaction at the Pitié, government communication has since found itself at the center of critics of the opposition, which summoned Christophe Castaner to explain.
“The Minister of the Interior must stop putting oil on the fire and must now explain his statements denied by the facts,” tweeted Bruno Retailleau, chairman of the LR group in the Senate.
Le ministre de l’Interieur doit cesser de mettre de l’huile sur le feu et doit maintenant s’expliquer sur ses déclarations démenties par les faits. https://t.co/BFIWTVTWE3
— Bruno Retailleau ن (@BrunoRetailleau) May 2, 2019
“Mr. Castaner is a liar”
“Mr. Castaner is a liar, besides being an incompetent”, launched in Marseille the leader of the Insoumis Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
“If it is a deliberate lie, for the sole purpose of disqualifying and messing up a social mobilization, the Minister of the Interior must be removed from office without delay”, also estimated Benoît Hamon (Generation .s).
The CGT AP-HP denounced in a statement “the amalgam made between a group ultra-organized and violent (” black blocks “) and the 80,000 demonstrators who marched peacefully in Paris.
“The hospital compound was forced. Individuals tried to break into a resuscitation department. This is a very serious incident, these facts are inadmissible, “maintained Thursday the entourage of the Minister of the Interior.
