A Yellow Vest protester was jailed for three years and three months at a court in Caen in the north of France. He was found guilty of committing acts of violence against a member of the CRS riot police during the January protests in the Normandy capital, his lawyer said Thursday.
The 43-year-old unemployed man, who has a well-documented criminal record (18 convictions) was prosecuted in the Criminal Court on 12 counts, including acts of violence against a “person exercising public authority.”
The violence, including a shooting with a slingshot, had occurred during at the protests on January 5 and 12 in Caen, one of the cities most impacted by the movement.
At the hearing, the accused said that "he was not shooting at unprotected law enforcement officers” and that we [Yellow Vest] were in a confrontation. He said he “was shooting at people with helmets".
While there was a lot of tear gas, the defendant said he fired "to calm the police and evacuate the wounded waiting for the arrival of help," she added.
His client was arrested on January 12 and was brought to court on January 14. He had then been given time to prepare his defense and had been held in custody pending trial.
