The Euronews team was attacked by looters and rioters in Paris near Place de la République on Saturday while covering the ongoing large joint protests organized by the so-called “Yellow Vests” and student-led groups.
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The crew was heading somewhere other than Place de la République, where the protests were taking place.
Shortly after their trip, they were confronted by masked looters robbing the nearby Intermarché Express supermarket at 14 Place Jacques Bonsergent, which diverges from Place de la République, and they filmed the event.
“We were on Boulevard de Magenta, not far from a supermarket which was being looted by young people, young adults, teenagers. When they saw that we were filming, they started to hit my cameraman and tried to take his microphone and they surrounded us,” said Estelle Nilsson-Julien, Euronews correspondent in Paris.
“They then pushed him against the wall and started punching and kicking him. They hit him in the face, but because he was wearing a gas mask, goggles and a helmet, he was not seriously injured.”
“He managed to escape with just a few bruises on his face,” she added.
Our correspondent also noted that the looters stole their camera during the scuffles, which was eventually brought back by a group of youths who saw what was happening. However, the returned camera did not contain an SD card and all recorded images were lost.
Nilsson-Julien reported seeing objects on fire in the immediate vicinity of the supermarket and loud police sirens.
“To be honest, it’s anarchy in the streets. There are a lot of young people who seem ready to fight and loot. So the calm protests from earlier today, at least in this area, are completely over,” she said.
Another Euronews correspondent, Valérie Gauriat, who was covering the protests at Place de la République, also reported a violent incident with a masked individual earlier while she was interviewing a protester.
She noted that one protester slapped the back of her head and muttered profanity as she passed, denouncing the media’s presence at the protests.
The incidents come after some groups on social media called on protesters to target media outlets and media personnel, in order to prevent “the spread of false information” about the protests and reported violence.
Gn world
