The violent arrest of a hospital nurse who has spent months battling Coronavirus has caused outrage in France.
Riot police were on Tuesday filmed snatching Farida, 52, from a chaotic crowd of health workers calling for better pay and conditions in central Paris.
She was then pulled away, and another video showed a female officer in full riot gear dragging Farida – who has only been identified by her first name – by the hair and prodding her with a truncheon.
Farida shouts ‘I’m a nurse!’, and then pleads: ‘I have asthma! I want my Ventoline’ – a reference to a medication used to treat the lung disease.
The nurse – who is just 5ft tall – was then taken away by the riot squad to a nearby police station, and charged with ‘throwing projectiles at the police’ – an offence that could see her imprisoned.
Farida, a hospital nurse who worked throughout coronavirus, was pulled away from protests in France on Tuesday before another video showed a female officer in full riot gear dragging her by the hair and prodding her with a truncheon
The nurse – who is just 5ft tall – was then taken away by the riot squad to a nearby police station, and charged with ‘throwing projectiles at the police’ – an offence that could see her imprisoned
Imen Mellaz, Farida’s daughter, expressed her outrage on Twitter, saying: ‘She worked for 3 months between 12 and 14 hours a day. She had Covid.
‘Today, she was demonstrating so that her salary was raised, that her work was recognised. She is asthmatic.’
Ms Mellaz added: ‘Nothing anywhere justifies an arrest like that. Not when someone is in a white coat, not when they are 1.55m (5ft), not when they are facing up to robocop.’
Some of Ms Mellaz’s claims – including that her mother caught Coronavirus at one stage – have not yet been verified, but her status as hospital nurse has been.
Riot police were filmed snatching Farida, who has been identified only by her first name, from a chaotic crowd of health workers calling for better pay and conditions in central Paris
She shouted for her asthma medication as she was led away by riot police on Tuesday
A police source told AFP, France’s national news agency: ‘A woman, a nurse by profession, was arrested for contempt and throwing projectiles at the police.’
The source said that Farid herself was earlier filmed throwing rocks, saying: ‘A police officer hit by one of these projectiles will file a complaint.’
At the end of the demonstration that attracted 18,000 to Les Invalides – where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried – the Paris Police Prefecture reported 32 arrests linked to the fighting.
Many were hard-Left activists, including anarchists, who are said to have infiltrated the demonstration.
The videos of Farida have gone viral in France, and a Free Farida campaign has been launched after she was placed in custody.
Taha Bouhafs, an anti-racism activist in Paris, said Farida was ‘traumatized by her arrest, physically and morally’.
The nurse was thrown against a tree as police tried to get a hold of her wrists to place her into handcuffs
Farida’s white blouse was covered in blood from an open wound on her forehead
Security forces intervened to violently suppress protesters during a demonstration to demand better working conditions for health workers
Farida was pushed to the ground before being handcuffed and taken away as demonstrations turned violent in Paris
‘She has several head wounds, bumps and bruises. Her blouse is also stained with blood,’ Mr Bouhafs added.
One reporter wrote: ‘A woman in a white blouse, pulled by the hair, during an arrest, ended up being evacuated with a bloody face during the demonstration at the Invalides. She repeatedly called for her Ventoline.’
Riot police used tear gas and baton charges as they fought with protesters by Les Invalides in the centre of the city on Tuesday afternoon.
By 4pm there had been 16 arrests, and ‘disturbances were ongoing,’ said a spokesman for the Paris police prefecture.
Thousands including doctors and nurses had taken to the streets to rally for a better deal from the government.
A march by French health workers calling for better pay and working conditions because of the Coronavirus crisis descended into street violence in Paris on Tuesday
Riot police used teargas and baton charges as they fought with protesters by Les Invalides in the centre of the city on Tuesday afternoon. Pictuerd: A projectile being fired at police by protesters
‘It appears that the main march was infiltrated by radicals who wanted to take on the police,’ said one of the protesters.
‘They began throwing missiles at officers, who responded in a manner that was very heavy handed.’
A car was turned over at one point, with demonstrators hiding behind it as they goaded the police.
Hundreds of youths then made their way on to the large grass field in front of Les Invalides, where some of the worst fighting took place.
There, police snatch squads cold be seen rushing into the crowd to make arrests, as tear gas swirled everywhere. Fires were also started in waste bins.
A car was turned over at one point, with demonstrators hiding behind it as they goaded the police
By 4pm there had been 16 arrests, and ‘disturbances were ongoing,’ said a spokesman for the Paris police prefecture
Thousands including doctors and nurses had taken to the streets to rally for a better deal from the government
France has been plagued by street violence since the gradual removal of Coronavirus lockdown conditions started last month.
There has been widespread disorder at Black Lives Matter demonstrations and in night time disturbances involving Chechen gangs in the eastern city of Lyon.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has appealed for calm, saying that ‘all measures’ would be taken to restore order.
Health workers have treated some 73,000 people since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic in March, and for a long period people all over France held a daily 8pm clap to thank them for their efforts.
The clashes took place on the streets of Paris on Tuesday. Waste bins were set on fire as protests turned violent
One protester wielded a giant French flag as he faced off against the police amid heightened tensions in the city
Hundreds of youths then made their way on to the large grass field in front of Les Invalides, where some of the worst fighting took place
Now, though, they are complaining that President Emmanuel Macron’s government is not doing enough to reward them for their efforts.
It comes as President Macron was forced to deploy the army in Dijon, eastern France, to combat Chechen gangs who have unleashed anarchy on the streets.
Horrifying videos released on social media show the well-armed masked men – who also brandish pistols – in the city, 200 miles from Paris.
The hooded gang members are refugees from Chechnya – part of the Russian Federation which has been involved in two bloody independence wars over the past 26 years.
‘Unrest has been going on for the past three nights,’ a Dijon police source said on Monday. ‘Chechen gangs linked to the drug trade and other criminal activity have mobilised to take part in battles with other gangs.
It comes as President Macron was forced to deploy the army in Dijon, eastern France, to combat Chechen gangs who have unleashed anarchy on the streets
‘Weapons including Kalashnikovs, axes and baseball bats are being carried openly on the streets, and live ammunition is being fired. People are terrified.’
The source said that the trouble was originally triggered by an assault of a 16-year-old Chechen last Wednesday which is being investigated as ‘attempted murder’.
‘The Chechens reacted violently, going into housing estates in vast numbers to see try and find who was responsible,’ the source added.
‘The situation in Dijon is now so tense that military and police reinforcements are being drafted in to the city,’ the source added.