Was it Osiris, Pacha, or one of the two other Malinois from the new canine brigade of the municipal police of Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis)? Was the animal improperly leashed? Was he encouraged by the police dog handler? The scene does not last more than two seconds. It’s night. Eyes glued to the screen of his mobile phone, a man wearing a white cap crosses the tracks of the T8 tram, in the station district. The dog jumps up, the stranger jumps, drops his phone, the Malinois returns to his master’s feet. A hitch, in short. Almost nothing. But almost nothing that offers a revealing prelude to the 13 minute and 28 second sequence filmed that evening from the window of a neighboring building. This video, which The world was able to view, provides a glaring example of the bad practices sometimes taking place within the police force.
That evening, Sunday February 6, the Senegal team has just offered the country its first victory in the final of the African Cup of Nations against the Egyptian selection after a grueling series of shots on goal (4-2 ) at the Olembé stadium in Yaoundé (Cameroon). In Saint-Denis, the Senegalese community followed the match from the tiny room of the Ugo restaurant, rue Ernest-Renan, where a brief power failure raised a cry of horror in the middle of the second half. Other supporters preferred to meet in Bintou’s living room (names have been changed), who prepared the continue, a tasty stew of fresh fish served with rice and vegetables. After which, about thirty supporters took the direction of a pedestrian zone which connects the district of the station to the city center to celebrate the event.
“There were children! »
Since incidents after sports meetings, the municipality has issued an anti-crowding order. This is why the municipal police intervene without delay. “They asked us to go to Place Georges-Arnold, just opposite, next to the pharmacy”, says a witness. In the heart of winter, the temperature does not reach 10°C, not enough to warm up a rather dull atmosphere: a few dances and songs of joy, pot lids that are knocked together in rhythm and five flags of Senegal green, gold and red, which float above about twenty supporters. Among them, Salimata, 36, accompanied by her 8-year-old granddaughter.
On the other side of the street, almost confused with the dark gray of the road, seven municipal police uniforms face the supporters. It was at the foot of one of these police officers, a few minutes earlier, that what appears to be a can, thrown from an adjacent street, stole. A supporter draped in a Senegalese flag rushed to calm the spirits. Everything became quiet again.
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