What we know about this video showing an English supporter being gassed

A policeman who approaches a supporter, reaches out and sprays him with tear gas: the sequence, shot on Saturday evening at the Stade de France before the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, was seen more than 1.8 million times after being picked up on Twitter on Sunday. We see two policemen and stewards standing inside the stadium, behind turnstiles, while a young man searches in an envelope for his ticket to enter to see the match. The young man does not look at the police, does not challenge them, he is turned in profile behind the turnstile to look for his ticket. He then tries to pass it through the turnstile, without success.

Behind him, when only one door is open, British supporters try to move forward to enter, and one of them calls out to the stewards. As the young man turns to go to another turnstile, a policeman from the Paris police headquarters, identifiable by the blue stripes on his helmet, approaches and fires tear gas. The young man then takes a step back and approaches another turnstile, where he can finally validate his ticket.

Another man, who has just entered the stadium and who wears an accreditation around his neck, is on the ground, embarrassed by tear gas. A steward, visibly also embarrassed by the gases, helps him to get up.

The scene elicited a large number of reactions. “I mean…what the hell is this thing?” Fans just walk through the door to scan their ticket and this happens? “, launched an account of supporters.

What happened Saturday night? The video was filmed by Arthur Quezada, a Portuguese journalist, correspondent for TNT Sports media. A longer footage was posted on TNT Sports Brasil’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.

MUITA CONFUSÃO! Olha só o que rolou na porta do Stade de France, que acabou atrasando o início da partida between Liverpool x Real Madrid. nosso @arthurquezada registrou o momento da correria! #CasaDaChampions #ChampionsNaHBOMax pic.twitter.com/H5sNzBqHhZ

— TNT Sports Brasil (@TNTSportsBR) May 28, 2022

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It was filmed at Gate Y, about 20 minutes before the start of the match, confirms a spokesperson for the media at 20 minutes. Before the sequence which has gone viral, three police officers throw tear gas at the English supporters who are at the turnstiles and behind the door, before walking away. The suffocating man on his knees in the viral footage appears to have been hit by those gunshots. It is then that another policeman approaches and uses tear gas in the direction of the supporter who is looking for his ticket.

Gérald Darmanin talks about a video where a police officer “disproportionately used his tear gas”

Gérald Darmanin admitted on Monday having “seen a video” where a “policeman from the police prefecture [de Paris] had “disproportionately used his tear gas”. The Minister indicated that he had “the same day called the Prefect of Police” and he specified that “sanctions must be taken for those people who do not use tear gas in the right conditions”. Contacted, the Ministry of the Interior and the police headquarters did not confirm whether the minister was indeed referring to these images shot by the Portuguese journalist.

At the same press conference, Gérald Darmanin also deplored that “women” and “children” were hit by these tear gas, but justified the use of these aerosols to push back the crowd: “Part of Between them, with other supporters, in a very compact crowd, jostled either against the cords of CRS, or against the grids, he explained. To raise – if I dare say – space so that people do not die crushed, he was subjected to tear gas. The minister, however, defended the operation to maintain order on Saturday evening, arguing that it had avoided “deaths”.

The sequence should “a priori interest the Paris prosecutor’s office”

According to the general regulations of the national police, the police must “demonstrate coolness and discernment in each of their interventions” and ensure “the proportionality of the human and material resources used to achieve the objective of their action”.

The Internal Security Code also recalls “this requirement of absolute necessity and proportionality” in the use of weapons, underlines to 20 minutes Olivier Cahn. For the professor of criminal law at the University of Cergy, “this kind of behavior is absolutely dramatic for the image of the French police”. Based on the images and subject to investigation, “what [le policier] done at that time, in criminal law it qualifies very well: it is article 222-13 of the Criminal Code which relates to willful violence”.

The sequence should “a priori interest the Paris prosecutor’s office” for the opening of an investigation. Olivier Cahn recalls that the European Court of Human Rights, “in the event of suspicion of police violence, requires the State to carry out an investigation”.