These Unbelievable Scenes Went Down in Paris, France, Earlier This Week… With Massive Protests Taking Place Around the City, Former French Light-Heavyweight Champion Christophe Dettinger Decided to Literally Take Things Into His Own Hands…
One of France’s most notable cultural traditions is to go on strike and launch crazy, destructive protests whenever the citizens aren’t happy about something. This happens all the time, but the ‘Gilets Jaunes’ or ‘Yellow Vest’ demonstrations have reached a new level and are spreading throughout Europe.
Basically, people in France aren’t happy with their government for a variety of reasons. The cost of diesel fuel has increased, there’s a heavier tax burden on the lower wage brackets, and a whole load of other stuff that we’re not going to pretend we know about.
Anyway, the protests took a new violent turn the other day when video footage was captured of a man leading a bare fist assaulted on riot police. It turns out that this was the former light-heavyweight champion, Christophe Dettinger. Now he’s being heralded as a folk hero.
A puño limpio hicieron retroceder a la policía en Francia:
En una nueva jornada de protesta de los #GiletsJaunes, mientras la policía reprimía en el puente peatonal Leopold-Sedar-Senghor, París, un boxeador (identificado como Christophe Dettinger) ayudó a repeler la represión 👊🏽 pic.twitter.com/dA6ZK6zZ8Y— Vagabundo ilustrado (@vagoilustrado) January 6, 2019
Intense
The footage is very intense. A full-scale assault is taking place on a bridge in central Paris. Police officers in full riot gear desperately try to fend off protesters from crossing the Leopold-Sédar-Senghor bridge. However, they are pushed back when Dettinger – dressed in black – and a group of fellow protesters wearing the yellow vests synonymous with these demonstrations, advance on them.
The attackers do not hold back as they punch and kick the police officer. Dettinger even goes as far as telling a police officer that he should be ‘ashamed’ of himself. The footage is absolutely chaotic. In the clip below you can even see him go as far as kicking a grounded officer. That’s when the tear gas starts to go off.
This weekend in #Paris : Police are beaten down to the ground by individuals on the bridge Léopold-Sédar-Senghor pic.twitter.com/QlknKbdG3w
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) January 5, 2019
Identified
Now that he’s been identified, Dettinger is definitely going to face some consequences for his actions. Assaulting police officers definitely isn’t a crime that’s going to win you friends when the boys in blue lock you up. The French boxer was a national light-heavyweight champion from 2007 to 2009. He had a professional record of 18 wins and 3 defeats. 7 of those victories came via KO.
A police union on Twitter warned Dettinger:
“Sir, you who punch a colleague on the ground, you have been identified. For a boxer, you do not respect a lot of rules. We will teach you those of the penal code.” (Translated. See original text below.)
Monsieur, vous qui avez frappé un collègue à terre, vous êtes identifié. Pour un boxeur, vous ne respectez apparement pas beaucoup de règles. Nous allons vous apprendre celles du code pénal. @EmmanuelMacron @EPhilippePM @CCastaner @NunezLaurent @DGPNEricMorvan @prefpolice pic.twitter.com/zBNcD9kWMs
— Commissaires de la Police Nationale SCPN (@ScpnCommissaire) January 5, 2019
Folk Hero
While he might not have won many friends in the Paris police department, Dettinger is being hailed as a hero by his fellow demonstrators, who have emphatically defended his actions on social media. The police have also been condemned for numerous alleged instances of brutality and excessive violence. France’s interior minister Christophe Castaner described the incident as ‘cowardly and intolerable.’
You can bet that the former champion won’t care a little bit. The demonstrations are continuing in Paris, as well as in other cities around Europe, including London, UK and Dublin, Ireland. Is 2019 going to be a year of chaos and revolution?
