The scene is chilling. While the RATP reacted on Wednesday September 20 to the video of an agent filmed violently hitting a young man, what do we know concretely about what happened?
Pinned against a wall by an agent responsible for security on the RATP network, a young man dressed in a chick yellow sweater and black jogging pants with white stripes takes a violent blow in the stomach. Behind the agent in question are two other members of the GPSR (Network Protection and Security Group), who are watching the scene. A woman, also a security agent for the Ile-de-France network, visibly in charge of a brigade dog, also appears at times in the video. She is standing near the stage.
The video, visible on social networks and devoid of any context, has not failed to arouse excitement among Internet users in recent hours. But what happened? How is such violence possible in the middle of Paris, under the watchful eye of many metro and RER users? Wednesday September 20, 2023, the RATP broke its silence.
A video is circulating showing the reaction of a GPSR agent striking an individual during an arrest. An investigation is underway to understand the circumstances of this arrest and the manifestly inappropriate nature of the agent’s reaction.
— RATP Group (@RATPgroup) September 20, 2023
An ongoing investigation
According to the RATP, the video shows an arrest which took place on Tuesday September 19, around 9 p.m., at the Gare de l’Est. “An investigation is underway to understand the circumstances of this arrest and the manifestly inappropriate nature of the agent’s reaction,” indicates the group’s communications department on X (formerly Twitter). RATP also delivers the security agent’s version. “According to [lui]the individual would have kicked an agent, would have insulted him then threatened to kill him before making him fall on the suitcases of a traveler”, it is specified. After the famous scene, the young man would have been “handed over to the police and the agent filed a complaint”, adds the RATP.