Teen files police assault complaint after PSG-Arsenal clash | OneFootball

After PSG’s win over Arsenal, what began as a street celebration has triggered a formal investigation into the conduct of French riot police.

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A 17-year-old Paris Saint-Germain supporter has filed a formal complaint of alleged police brutality following the club’s Champions League semi-final victory over Arsenal, prompting an investigation by the IGPN, France’s National Police Inspectorate.

The teenager, who is from Brittany and was in Paris for university entrance exams, claims he was violently assaulted by riot police near the Champs-Élysées on the evening of 7 May. PSG had just secured a place in the Champions League final, eliminating Arsenal, and thousands of fans had gathered in celebration in central Paris.

According to documents seen by AFP, the supporter alleges that he was subjected to “intentional violence by a person in a position of public authority with a weapon,” an offence carrying a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment and a €100,000 fine.

The youth said he had become separated from friends in the crowd when a police charge began. “I didn’t understand why the police charged,” he said. “I saw no projectiles thrown at the police, no damage, no violence, no fire of anything.” He stated that he was given no time to react or flee, and was struck with a baton “on the head,” “behind the head,” and “in the back and left shoulder.”

Unbalanced, he fell over a railing leading to an underground car park, a drop of “three or four metres.” “Stunned, I curled up into a ball,” he said. He claimed the same officer then pursued him into the parking ramp, where he was “hit about five more times with a truncheon on the ground,” before being “lifted up and thrown back to the ground.”

The public prosecutor’s office in Paris has confirmed that the IGPN has been contacted regarding the complaint.

His lawyer, Pierre Brunisso, condemned the incident. “This is the opposite of an action relating to the maintenance of law and order,” he told AFP. “The police officer’s unleashing of violence could have led to his death.”