Banners, slogans engaged, barnum and megaphone. Unusual atmosphere, this Monday, near the courthouse of Nanterre, where a hundred people came to support Ayoub, Victor, Barthélémy and Selim, four students prosecuted for alleged meeting violence, carried out against vigilantes of the Paris-Nanterre University. The trial scheduled for today has finally been postponed to February 15.
The acts of violence for which they are accused, the four students engaged in the ranks of the UNEF, have always denied them as a whole. They say it and repeat it: they never attacked the men of the security service of the university, this October 7, 2019, on the sidelines of a commission for training and university life (CFVU).
“This body, Victor and I, are members,” explains Barthélémy. However, that day, we did not receive a notice or very late. We still decided to introduce ourselves and when we arrived in front of the room, we ran into the guards. They prevented us from sitting and we are being sent to court. It is simply unacceptable! “
The mobilization in favor of the “faceless” in the background
Especially since this famous October 7, 2019, the students of the UNEF have a lot of cases to plead. At the time, the campus was agitated by a mobilization in favor of the “faceless”. To support the cause of these students without assignment, the most committed multiply actions and gatherings, going so far as to invest, for more than 55 hours, building B which houses the administration, as well as the office of the president of the university.
“All that we defended was a university open to all and we find ourselves today on trial for so-called violence”, breathes Ayoub. “It is not us but the deputy chief of security, who should be summoned to court, supports Victor. It was he who hampered our freedom of expression and our union action. “
The lawyers for the four students say nothing else and have asked that the two cases be joined in court. “In these two cases, the facts are interdependent, insists Me Antoine Comte. One cannot explain one without understanding the other. And then the facts concern the same protagonists and happened in the same place, at the same time. Joining the two files is essential. “
