Mathilde Panot announced Monday, by mistake, in front of journalists the death of a seriously injured demonstrator in Sainte-Soline on Saturday. Unable to confirm this information, BFMTV did not broadcast the extract in question. At the microphone of BFMTV-RMC, she said on Tuesday that she had immediately denied this information, which does not correspond to the information collected by the BFMTV teams. The vital prognosis of this man is still engaged.
This Tuesday, on RMC-BFMTV, the president of the group La France insoumise at the National Assembly, Mathilde Panot, said she “regrets” having announced, by mistake, the death of a protester from Sainte-Soline. The latter was seriously injured on Saturday in Deux-Sèvres, where a demonstration was held against a “mega-basin”.
“Of course I regret it. I think it would be good, moreover, not to even say it in this interview”, declared Mathilde Panot.
“When I arrived on the picket line to block the largest incinerator in Europe, it was information that was given to me and on which just after they came back to see me,” she says.
“I immediately went to see the journalists and told them: ‘stop everything, the information is not confirmed'”, adds the head of the LFI deputies.
An announcement on the microphone
This version advanced on the air by Mathilde Panot does not correspond to the information collected by the BFMTV teams. One of our teams was thus present at the incinerator of Ivry-sur-Seine when Mathilde Panot made this declaration in front of several journalists. At our microphone, the president of the LFI group in the Assembly effectively announced the death of the protester who had until then been described as “between life and death” during an interview recorded to be broadcast shortly after.
Off camera, she then asked the BFMTV reporter on the spot not to publish this information, arguing that the victim’s family did not wish to communicate on it, but without however questioning the substance of his assertion.
BFMTV therefore sought to have this information confirmed. In order to understand where the news came from, our political service contacted the press service of the LFI group at the National Assembly. The latter told us that he had “contradictory information” on these facts and urged us to be cautious.
The vital prognosis of the protester still engaged
For its part, the police-justice service contacted a judicial source. The Niort prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday that it had opened an investigation “to determine the exact nature” of the serious injuries of three demonstrators in Sainte-Soline and “the circumstances in which” these people were injured.
The police-justice service learned on the morning of this Monday, from a source close to the investigation, that the vital prognosis of the demonstrator announced dead by Mathilde Panot was still engaged. This 32-year-old man suffers from head trauma and is in a coma after being hit by a projectile, the nature and origin of which are not yet known, according to the same source. BFMTV has therefore decided not to broadcast the extract recorded a little earlier with the deputy.
Our police-justice department also tried several times to contact Mathilde Panot on Monday, without success.
