SNCF Arrests (update 4)

Part of the contraption to pull down power lines construted by situationalist sociology students, according to French police.

The latest news on the Tarnac arestees.  Four of the nine are released under the equivilent of bail, but still face possible charges.  They were held four four days of interogations, though the police still don’t seem to have any direct evidence against any of them.  Five (which the predictably frantic Le Figaro calls “The Hard Core” of situationalist students) remain in jail awaiting trial.  Le Monde has a surprisingly sensitive portrait of the ordeal of one of the four released, and identifies each of the arrestees.  The charges remain the same as those in the last post here.

Those facing the heaviest charges, and still detained are:

  • Julien Coupat (34) accused ringleader
  • Yldune L., 25, Archeolology Student
  • Benjamin R., 30 , Poly Sci grad from the University of Rennes and former student of Development and environmental Sociology at the University of Edinburgh.
  • Elsa H., 23  English Grad student arrested in Rouen,
  • Bertrand D., 22 Sociology Grad student, also arrested in Rouen.

 

The four released but possibly facing lesser though serious charges are:

  • Gabrielle H., 29 , a student nurse,
  • Manon G., 25, a prize winning classically trained clarinetist,
  • Aria T., 26, a Swiss actress known for her role in the sitcom Les Pique-Meurons.
  • Mathieu B., 27, a former sociology student from the Parisien Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS).

 

While we await the trial, the SNCF workers rallied in Paris against rail priviatisation plans, staged a work stoppage, and forced the SNCF to back off of some of its more objectionable proposals

 

Le Figaro, who have been the most energetic in convicting these nine students without trial, was also caught out today Liberation, for photoshoping a picture of law-and-order Justice Minister Rachida Dati to remove the huge diamond encrusted ring from her iron hands: a ring reportedly worth a cool 15,600 Euros!