Incident at Gare du Nord
The following is my translation of an article which appeared in Liberation on March 29th. Gare du Nord is one of the main train stations in Paris. The clash between police and youths at the station, sparked by a ticket control, was caught on tape by the security cameras and has become the latest political football in the French elections.
The Chain of Events: What Happened at Gare du Nord
Tuesday March 27, 4:30 pm: A 32 year old man is controlled by RATP agents as he attempted to board the RER (suburban train line) without a ticket. The man, a Congolese without papers, argued. The tone rose, police reinforcements arrived, the man was pushed to the ground. The scene was visible to passersby on the upper levels.
5 pm: In the station, now full with the rush hour crowd, rumors of a reinforced police action spread. With some errors: the theories of an adolescent whose arm had been broken, or a woman thrown to the ground by police, were advanced. Police arrived en masse, as did the youths. The two groups faced each other as the atmosphere intensified.
6 pm: The crowd has grown again. It is no longer composed solely of youths, but also of travellers shocked by the heavy police presence. Cries and insults addressed to the police and to Nicolas Sarkozy are hurled. Trashcans and potted plants begin to be picked up.
6:30 pm: The night explodes into a confrontation between the youths and the forces of order, all under the watch of the security cameras. The scenes of vandalism testify to the anger at the interrogation of a traveller without a ticket, three hours earlier. Some youths break the window of the Foot Locker store and enter. Tear gas is thrown into the crowd.
7:30 : Calm returns little by little, despite the regular charges of police. 13 people, 5 of them minors, are questioned and taken into custody. 4 RATP agents and 4 SNCF agents suffered mild injuries.
10:30 : A hundred or so youths are still in a face-off with the police, but the situation has stabilized.
Le fil des événements : Ce qui s'est passé gare du Nord [Liberation]
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