Paris (France) (AFP) – Sentences of six to twenty months in prison, all suspended, were requested Thursday against nine CRS tried in Paris for having clubbed demonstrators in a Burger King during act 3 of the “yellow vests”, on December 1, 2018.

Published on: 02/12/2026 - 7:41 p.m.

“Disorder never suspends the law, the law is not a luxury reserved for calm days, the law is precisely what must hold when everything changes,” launched the prosecutor, Marie Dubarry, stressing that the court judged “the precise moment when the use of force ceased to be necessary and proportionate”.

Nine police officers, all members at the time of the events of the CRS 43 based in Chalon-sur-Saône, have been appearing since Monday for willful violence with several aggravating circumstances.

The courts accuse them of having that day, the third Saturday of "yellow vest" demonstrations, clubbed and kicked demonstrators who had entered a Burger King near Place de l'Etoile to find refuge, without warning and without giving them time to evacuate the place.

This episode, which lasted only 2 minutes and 37 seconds, was filmed from different angles by demonstrators, journalists and even video surveillance cameras.

Filmed sequence

“The entire sequence is filmed, it’s rare and it’s valuable, because it prevents history from being rewritten,” observed the representative of the prosecution.

Four individuals, beaten with batons or kicked, became civil parties in this case. But 16 unidentified victims, who did not come forward to the courts, were also counted by investigators.

During their interrogations, Monday and Tuesday, the defendants admitted to having lacked "lucidity" during this operation at the start of the evening in the Burger King, carried out after hours of clashes with demonstrators around the Arc de Triomphe, in an "insurrectional" climate.

On the stand, they said they believed that the people who had entered the fast-food restaurant, although it was closed, were looters.

In reality, the occupants had taken refuge there to catch their breath while the air was saturated with tear gas around Place de l'Etoile and had not committed any damage or looting.

The police officers also confided their feeling of having been “abandoned” by their hierarchical chain and directly blamed the Paris Police Prefecture.

Thursday morning, their commander, called as a witness, exhausted the hierarchical chain, believing that he himself and other people should have found themselves alongside the nine CRS in the dock. During the investigations, the investigating judge considered that the officer could not be held criminally responsible.

“I find it scandalous,” he thundered: “They are obliged to obey, those who give orders are never responsible.”

In court, he criticized the chain of command for not having relieved his unit, even though his men had not eaten since 6:00 a.m.

“When you are exhausted, dehydrated, you become unreasonable,” argued their lawyer, Laurent-Franck Liénard, who pleaded for release.

Mastery required

“The purpose of force cannot be to punish, to humiliate, to compensate for a difficult day,” said the prosecutor, while specifying that no one denied “the violence of this day”, nor the “difficulty of the mission” of the CRS 43.

“The more chaotic the situation, the more control is required, because they are trained and seasoned professionals,” she added.

“I think you felt humiliated, and the moment you arrived in front of the Burger King, you were angry, bruised, humiliated, annoyed,” said Emmanuel Daoud, lawyer for a civil party, addressing the defendants.

In reality, it was a matter of "giving back" to the demonstrators, said Me Moad Nefati, who defends a man who received around thirty baton blows. “Yes, these police officers, when they entered the Burger King, they were thirsty for revenge,” added Me Arié Alimi, lawyer for two other victims.

Judgment expected on March 17.

© 2026 AFP

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