The South African lyrical singer Pretty Yende denounced this Tuesday, June 22 her treatment by the French border police, during her passage at Paris-Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport on Monday. In a lengthy testimony posted on Facebook and Instagram, she recounts how a border check ended with her placement in ” cell “. The border police are questioning their version of the facts.
The soprano claims to have been deprived of all her belongings as well as her cell phone. “They looked at me like I was a criminal”, she writes. She also explains that she would have been told “In a very harsh and condescending tone” that she wouldn’t get her phone back.
“I was stripped and searched like a criminal and placed in a customs control cell in [l’aéroport], writes the singer. It was cold there, and there was no light at first […] They left me alone with a landline and gave me a piece of paper to write down the numbers of those I could call. Most of them refused to speak to me in English, there were more than ten police officers and I could hear them laughing in the hallway. “
” Traumatized “
Pretty Yende explains that she was “Shocked and traumatized and could not believe what was happening to her”, but does not specify how the situation was resolved, while she is performing this Tuesday on stage in “La Somnambule” by Vincenzo Bellini at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
As a preamble to her testimony, she linked the incident to her skin color, recalling the discrimination suffered by black people around the world. “Police violence is real for people who look like me”, she writes.
“I am one of the lucky few to be alive today despite mistreatment, scandalous racial discrimination, psychological torture and very offensive racist comments, in a country to which I have given so much of my heart”, deplores the singer.
In another publication, she expressed her relief at not having been “Brutally questioned” and physically abused, and for her gratitude to those who supported her. “I am very happy to have been assisted and the situation is currently well managed”, she added.
A version called into question
Contacted by “Obs”, the border police contest the version given by the singer. This one arrived from Milan without a valid residence permit, one explains. A visa is required to return to France from South Africa.
A lack that led her to the police station and then to a “Maintenance room”, says a source within the PAF, who also specifies that the singer was “Palpated, and not undressed”, by female staff. After being overheard with an interpreter, she was issued a regularization visa which allowed her to leave the scene about two hours after her arrival, police said.
M. F.
