Hauts-de-Seine: new nights of urban violence after the death of a man in police custody

Four municipalities in the south of Hauts-de-Seine were once again the scene of urban violence during the night from Saturday to Sunday, December 15. Since the death of a 34-year-old man while in police custody on Tuesday at the Bagneux police station, tension remains palpable in certain neighborhoods every night. Mainly at Blagis in Fontenay-aux-Roses where the thirty-year-old grew up.

Trash fires, damage, mortar fire punctuated the night from Saturday to Sunday, from 11 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., rue Jean Mermoz in Châtillon, then rue Jean-Baptiste Clément in Clamart, in Blagis in Fontenay-aux-Roses then boulevard Stalingrad in Malakoff. The incidents started in the stadium area in Châtillon.

No arrests

According to a police source, police officers were the target of mortar fire from a group of individuals during a “security mission”. The police responded by using tear gas grenades, LBD fire and de-encirclement grenades.

The day before, a few incidents had also broken out at Plessis-Robinson where an individual was arrested for damage. Every night since Tuesday, the Blagis district has been the scene of tension. At the exit of the municipal council, Thursday a little before 12:30 a.m., at least one vehicle was set on fire as well as an apartment sales booth, while many residents had chosen to park further away.

Investigation underway to explain the causes of the death of the person in custody

The death of the thirty-year-old at the police station is still the subject of an investigation in order to shed light on the circumstances of the tragedy. An autopsy was carried out Wednesday morning as part of the investigation entrusted to the IGPN and additional examinations were ordered by the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office to perfect the first results which, for the moment, “tend to exclude intervention of a third”. According to a video published by the influencer Bezeleze, Baba was arrested during the weekend, and arrived at the police station “dented”, “beaten up by police officers”.

For its part, the national unitary national police union (SNUIPN) explains in a press release published on December 12 that the person in custody was transported by firefighters to the Antony private hospital, after an initial illness which occurred on Monday 9 FEBRUARY. Hospital from which he would have left with a certificate of non-admission. “At the end, he was seen by a doctor from the judicial medical unit and by a psychiatrist who declared him compatible with a measure of police custody. » The union specifies that “as soon as the second illness appeared, the police were able to trigger their body-worn camera while providing first aid while waiting for the firefighters to arrive”.

In the Blagis district, in Fontenay-aux-Roses, the victim’s family set up tents at the foot of their building to allow people wishing to gather and present their condolences.