Three people suspected of having placed five coffins on Saturday 1er June at the foot of the Eiffel Tower were referred to the courthouse on Sunday June 2, 2024 with a view to opening judicial information this Monday. This incident echoes two recent cases where the same suspicions of foreign manipulation exist. Here’s what we know about this mysterious affair.
Coffins filled with plaster
Around 9 a.m., Saturday 1er June, on the Quai Jacques-Chirac, five real-size coffins covered with a French flag, with the words “French soldiers of Ukraine” were discovered by employees of the Eiffel Tower.
The police saw on video surveillance images a white van arriving and parking at the corner of the quay and Allée Jean-Paulhan. In these images, two men could be seen placing the coffins and the banner on the sidewalk. According to investigations carried out later by the technical and scientific police, the coffins contained bags of plaster.
Three men arrested
The driver of the van used to transport the coffins was later “arrested on the outskirts” of the Eiffel Tower, according to this Source.
The driver told police he had “was paid €40 to drop off the individuals and the cargo”, a police Source said. He reportedly arrived from Bulgaria the night before.
Two other people were then arrested around 4 p.m. at the Bercy bus station, as they were preparing to “take a bus to Berlin”, added these sources.
The arrested are of Bulgarian, Ukrainian and German nationality, detailed the Source close to the case, specifying that an investigation was “underway to determine possible foreign interference.”
Suspicions of foreign interference
This incident echoes two recent cases where the same suspicions of foreign manipulation exist. On the night of May 13 to 14, red hands were sprayed on the Holocaust memorial in Paris and the police suspect three people having fled abroad.
In October, after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Stars of David were sprayed on several building facades in the Paris region. The facts, for which a Moldovan couple was arrested, were attributed by the French authorities to the Russian security services (FSB).
In both cases, these are “sponsors paid to destabilize and press on the divisions in French society”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, in mid-May. The investigation was entrusted to Paris territorial security.
