A Frenchman who was captured pummeling a riot police officer during Yellow Vest protests in Paris has been revealed to be a former professional boxer.
Former light heavyweight champion of France, Christophe Dettinger, was filmed repeatedly punching the officer, who was wielding a baton and a shield, as the protest turned violent on on a bridge in central Paris on Saturday. Video footage of the incident went viral over the weekend, leading to the boxer’s identification by police.
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
Police were forced to retreat as Dettinger vaulted onto the bridge and repeatedly punched the officer despite the cop being fully clad in protective riot armor. Separate footage of a different scuffle shows the same man repeatedly kicking and punching another officer while he lay on the ground.
The French police union revealed on Twitter that, thanks to footage posted on social media, the attacker had been identified.
“Sir, you who punched 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,” the tweet read.
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner described the attack as “cowardly and intolerable,” announcing via Twitter that he had contacted the public prosecutor to open an investigation into the incident.
However, supporters of the Yellow Vest movement have labeled Dettinger a hero who was simply ‘beating’ officers at their own game.
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