Françoise Besson, a Paris solicitor who had come to demonstrate in full lawyer’s dress with several hundred other magistrates, law professors and legal counsels, was present when the police first attacked with tear gas and rubber bats against families who were being prevented from moving forward on to the place de l’Etoile – where the Arc de Triomphe stands – while more and more people were coming up from behind.
Besson and other jurists even tried to negotiate with the police to let the demonstrators pass, as the street was becoming dangerously packed. She is prepared to testify that there was no provocation on the part of the demonstrators.
