Lawyers Announce Complaint Against French Interior Minister Over "Mutilations" of Protesters

The lawyers of at least 18 people injured during the social and student protests shaking France since mid-September announced this Friday that they will file a complaint against Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez over the "mutilations" of demonstrators.

The government of center-right President Emmanuel Macron is under pressure to prevent the riots and looting recorded on October 17, but also over the police response that caused protesters to be seriously injured.

AFP counted some twenty seriously injured people, ranging from torn-off hands, a fractured jaw or even the loss of an eye, caused by LBDs (defense baton launchers) or shots of tear gas and stun grenades since mid-September.

"Today we consider it imperative to target the person responsible for these mutilations and this mass damage, namely the Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez," declared lawyer Arié Alimi, announcing the forthcoming complaint before the Court of Justice of the Republic.

The complaint, which will be filed within "three weeks," focuses on the "orders he gave on the use of these weapons that he knows mutilate, that he knows are weapons of war, that he knows should not be used in maintaining order," added Alimi, accompanied by other lawyers.

"This intermediate-range weaponry is essential for the actions of the security forces," Nuñez responded hours later, defending the "legal framework" of its use, although he regretted that there were injuries.

Regarding the legal actions, he said he was "willing to respond to any complaint."

"I am very calm and very firm in my convictions," he added.

The Court of Justice of the Republic, made up of three magistrates of the Court of Cassation and twelve parliamentarians from all political tendencies, is the only jurisdiction in France competent to try members of the government in the exercise of their functions.

According to a count as of October 30, the police opened 105 internal investigations, 52 in the context of the student protests, 48 for the actions of their agents on October 17 and 18, and five for events of October 24, according to a source close to the case.