AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, France (AP) – French police detained 26 protesters early Tuesday during an eruption of violence against security forces in a Paris suburb in which numerous vehicles were set afire, including a police car.
At one point, police encircled by an angry crowd fired warning shots into the air using real bullets, according to French press reports. No injuries were reported.
The pre-dawn violence was a show of outrage in support of a young black man who authorities allege was raped with a police officer’s baton last week during a spate of identity checks as part of a police operation targeting drug traffickers.
One officer was charged Sunday with aggravated rape and three others were charged with aggravated assault.
President Francois Hollande visited the victim Tuesday at the hospital where he has been admitted, the Elysee Palace said. Le Parisien newspaper posted on its Twitter page a picture of Hollande shaking hands with the young man lying on his hospital bed.