When the Bataclan concert hall reopened 2016, a year after the terrorist attack in Paris which left 130 people dead, police officer Xavier Jugelé described his happiness at seeing the venue once again open its doors.
“I’m happy to be here,” he told People magazine in an interview. “Glad the Bataclan is reopening. It’s symbolic. We’re here tonight as witnesses. Here to defend our civic values. This concert’s to celebrate life. To say no to terrorists.” Jugelé had been part of the response team that rushed to the Bataclan in the wake of that attack in November 2015.
But this week, another night of terror took his life.
Jugelé, a member of the Paris police force since 2010, was killed by a gunman on the Champs-Élysées in the Thursday night attack, which the French government is treating as a terrorist incident.
On Friday, it emerged that Jugelé was a proud defender of gay rights. A member of Flag, a French association for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender police officers, he had joined protests against Russia’s ban on “homosexual propaganda” before the 2014 Olympics.
Officers praised his commitment to his job, adding that he had been to Greece to help police officers struggling to cope with the numbers of migrants who had crossed the Aegean sea to find refuge in Europe.
“He was a simple man who loved his job, and he was really committed to the LGBT cause,” Mikaël Bucheron, the president of Flag told the New York Times. “He joined the association a few years ago and he protested with us when there was the homosexual propaganda ban at the Sochi Olympic Games.”
Jugelé, 37, joined the Parisian police force in 2010, after serving in the Gendarmerie. He was due to to move to the judicial police, an agency that pursues suspects and serves search warrants.
Born in 1979 in Bourges, he grew up in Romorantin-Lanthenay in central France and was in a civil union with his partner. “He was aware of the risks of the job and the terrorist threat, although we did not speak a lot about it,” said Bucheron. “He was a great man and friend, it is a big shock for us.”
Yves Lefebvre, the general secretary of the police union Unité SGP Police-Force Ouvrière, said Officer Jugelé was “an excellent colleague”, while the French president, François Hollande, said an official tribute would be paid to the officer.
