On two films, which went viral after the last protests of the French ‘yellow vests’, it is clear to see how a demonstrator tackles police officers in a harsh way. The man loosens up violently. Even the shield that the agents wear cannot protect them. Meanwhile, the French police identified the man. It was the professional boxer Christophe Dettinger (37).
The video of the attack immediately went viral in the French social media. Some even edited the music from the movie Rocky underneath. It shows how the big black man, who does not wear a yellow vest himself, jumps over a fence on the footbridge Leopold-Sédar-Senghor. Then he starts boxing with a policeman who tries to defend himself with a coat of arms. It was even more dangerous when the same man kicked up a policeman while he was lying on the floor.
Boxer without values
It was remarkable that the French union of chiefs announced via Twitter that they had identified the man. “Sir, you who beat our colleague who was lying on the floor. We have identified you. As a boxer you do not respect the rules. So, we will teach you the rules of criminal law”, according to the Twitter message of ‘Le Syndicat des Commissaires de la Police Nationale (SCPN). There is still a recognizable action picture that the man depicts during his sporting career.
Minister of Home Affairs Christophe Castaner shared the message of SCPN and wrote a word of explanation: “You will have to account for this cowardly action”.
“I respect a boxer who honours his club and city”, says Jérôme Guedj (ps). “But I have no respect for someone who boxes with a policeman. On the contrary, anger does not justify this violence.” With the Twitter messages of both politicians, the photos of Christophe Dettinger during a boxing match were added.
French boxing champion
According to the French media, it is a 37-year-old professional boxer from the Paris region: Christophe Dettinger. According to his personal Wikipedia page, the man was French boxing champion in 2007 at the weight class ‘light weight’. His last fight dates from 2013. Dettinger have not been arrested yet.
Confrontations
Scattered over France yesterday there were again confrontations between the ‘gilets jaunes’ (yellow vests) and the police. Along the Seine in Paris, policemen pelted with projectiles, fired tear gas to keep protesters at bay. This happened, for example, on a footbridge, as can be seen on statues, but also at the parliament building and the museum d’Orsay.
Barricades were raised and lit in a number of places. A boat restaurant also had to pay for it. A cop was injured on the Seine quay because a bicycle was thrown at him from above. It was the eighth time that the yellow-jacket movement proclaimed Saturday as national protest day. Except in the French capital, people went out into the streets in Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Lyon, reports the Le Parisien newspaper, also with some disturbances as a result.
