How a French demonstrator ended up in a coma at water reservoir protest
- l’année dernière
Thousands of grenades, Molotov cocktails, and hundreds of injured: on March 25, 2023, in Sainte-Soline, western France, a demonstration against a "mega-basin," or large water reserve, turned into a clash between police and protesters. At least two demonstrators, including Serge Duteuil-Graziani, a 32-year-old activist, were seriously injured. What happened?
Dozens of hours of video footage captured that day and testimonies collected by Le Monde's video investigation unit show that the demonstrator, on the front line of the clashes, was probably hit by an illegal tear gas grenade shot from one of the areas where the gendarmes were positioned. The analyzed footage also proves that Serge Duteuil-Graziani was not hit at that moment by projectiles shot by other demonstrators.
Le Monde's investigation also reveals, thanks to unpublished images by Brut journalist Camille Courcy, another illegal shot toward another demonstrator: A shot made too horizontally and carried out with the most powerful propulsion device, which hit this demonstrator in the head.
Dozens of hours of video footage captured that day and testimonies collected by Le Monde's video investigation unit show that the demonstrator, on the front line of the clashes, was probably hit by an illegal tear gas grenade shot from one of the areas where the gendarmes were positioned. The analyzed footage also proves that Serge Duteuil-Graziani was not hit at that moment by projectiles shot by other demonstrators.
Le Monde's investigation also reveals, thanks to unpublished images by Brut journalist Camille Courcy, another illegal shot toward another demonstrator: A shot made too horizontally and carried out with the most powerful propulsion device, which hit this demonstrator in the head.