Maria, 19, filed a complaint on April 30th at the Marseilles public prosecutor’s office for attempted murder, aggravated voluntary violence, and the non-rendering of assistance to people in danger. On December 8th, on the sidelines of a “Yellow Vests“ demonstration, she was kicked and beaten by police officers. Her brain, in particular, was damaged.
On December 8th 2018, in Marseilles, Maria*, 19, was seriously injured by the police. First hit by a flash ball launcher shot at her thigh, the young woman, who collapsed on the ground, was then violently beaten and kicked in the head.
At the hospital, she was operated on in an emergency basis for a“right craniofacial trauma by a truncheon stroke and right frontal blemish with cerebral contusion”. In other words, Maria has a fractured skull and her brain has been hit. It was only in April, five months later, that she was able to resume her job as a saleswoman, which she did alternately with her studies. Still under medical supervision, she is also followed by a psychiatrist, given her “acute state of stress” associated with “frequent nightmares”, according to the medical report.
Her lawyer, Brice Grazzini, filed a complaint on Tuesday, April 30th, with the prosecutor of Marseille against “unnamed persons, however identified as exercising a police function”, for “attempted murder”, “aggravated voluntary violence”, “not rendering assistance to a person in danger”, and “non-prevention of the commission of an offence”.
What happened on Saturday, December 8th, 2018?
On that day, at around 6 pm, Maria left her shop in the city center where she works in order to join her friend and then return home. They took Saint-Ferréol road, a shopping street that earlier in the day was the scene of clashes as a part of Act 4 of “Yellow Vests” and the mobilisation against unhealthy housing in Marseille. Not far away, on the Canebière and the Vieux-Port, clashes continued between protesters and the law enforcement officers who crisscross the periphery of the adjacent streets.
“I was with my friend and the police officers told us that they were forming a security perimeter. We then took the direction of my home,” explained Maria to Mediapart.

Six persons present gave their testimonies as part of the complaint. Among them, Olivia said that “the demonstrations of the afternoon had just ended and groups of CRS and police continued to occupy the main streets by blocking access or passage. There were a few people, of different ages, walking along Saint-Ferréol road. Nobody had threatening attitudes. Everyone was calm.”
In the images that Mediapart could see, the street seemed to be relatively quiet. Police were present, some young people too, and firefighters were extinguishing garbage fires.
“When suddenly a group of men, dressed in black and armed with clubs, rushed forward and shouted in my direction,” said Olivia in her statement, specifying that: “I immediately identified them as members of law enforcement. I had the quick reflex to pull myself away by putting myself against the wall of the building wall next door to avoid being hit in the process.”
These facts are confirmed by Camille, also present during the sudden and unexplained police charge. She testified: “While we were a few people walking calmly down Saint-Ferréol road, without clashes around us, a line of CRS and agents of the Anti-Crime Brigade fired projectiles (I do not know of what nature) and started to quickly come closer to us. Many of us ran to the first side street (rue de la Glace) to take shelter. I heard a cry of pain and I saw someone fall, a girl.”
The “girl” was Maria. “When the police charged, I did not understand the situation. I never protested and I was very scared. I ran to the first side street, rue de la Glace, but was shot in the leg. I screamed because I had a lot of pain in my leg. I fell to the ground.”
Seeing Maria wounded by the flash ball shot,
“people started shouting ‘someone is on the ground!’,” reported Laurence. “At the same time, this person on the ground was surrounded by police officers and was clubbed violently whilst being on the ground. […] At that moment, I was shocked. The scene was loaded with violence. I realised that truncheons violently hit the person continuously for a while.”
Camille saw
“more than ten police officers in jeans, helmets, truncheons in their hands and an armband on their arm, running and taking turns to beat and kick the person on the ground.”

Another witness contacted by “Mediapart”, Denise, is still moved at the mention of this evening.
“Just in front of me, there was this girl, small, who fell. And there, a swarm of policemen, mostly in plainclothes, helmeted, rush into the small street and give, by the way, truncheon blows and kicked the girl while she was on the ground.” Denise is categorical: “There were at least three truncheon blows, and three different police officers, and a kick in the face. Afterwards, I was moved away by a policeman.”
She wasn’t the only one to be pushed back.
“Despite the fact that the police forbade me to join her, I insisted and managed to pass,” says Lucie. “Arriving at her, I found other people who came to her rescue and I noticed that her head was caved in and bleeding. There were traces of blood on the floor, even on the walls. […] The plainclothes police left without even checking her condition.”
Another witness made the same observation:
“As we approached, all the police around the person on the ground dispersed. We found her condition very disturbing since she had an open wound on her head.”
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