Prominent Yellow Vest activist shot in the head by French police - Becomes 18th protester to lose an eye

RT
Sat, 26 Jan 2019 22:59 UTC

A notable figure among the Yellow Vests, Jerome Rodrigues, has suffered a serious eye injury during protests in Paris. The moment when the man was struck by a projectile, likely grenade shrapnel, was caught on video.

The incident occurred at the Bastille Square in central Paris where chaotic scenes of confrontation between Yellow Vests and law enforcement unfolded on Saturday.

Rodrigues had been live streaming from the site when a riot control grenade exploded right before him. After the hit, presumably, by shrapnel from the device, the man collapsed on the pavement with onlookers rushing to help him.

Other footage from the scene, captured by Sputnik France correspondent, show him lying bloodied on the ground, with paramedics providing first aid.

The activist has sustained a serious eye injury and was rushed to hospital. He later posted a selfie from there with his right eye shut and horribly swollen.

"I'm going to lose my eye," he said on Facebook.

The incident was swiftly acknowledged by police who said that the General Inspectorate of Police (aka police within the police) has been called to determine the "circumstances in which the injury occurred."

Comment: That's 18 people (official figure) who have had an eye taken from them by police firing at protesters at head-height.

There was a HUGE turnout across France today for Acte XI of the Yellow Vest movement.

The French state is teetering.

Reader Comments

Rom · 2019-01-26T23:51:07Z

Seems like he was targeted. Of all the people in the area, this man takes a head shot. There doesn't seem to be anyone else being hit by bullets in the footage.

Dog · 2019-01-27T01:47:09Z

wanna make an omelete gotta break a few eggs. We can agree this one had some skin in the game....

Rowan Cocoan · 2019-01-27T02:30:09Z

Well, you can buy eye-protective googles, such as an old racquetball 'pair' I have lying around here.

It's only common sense if they're taking headshots like that.

In the US the number would be

18..

Hundred

DEAD.

R.C.

Joan · 2019-01-27T02:56:22Z

RC...Yes I have also had eye protectors as you suggest, I used to work in the OR and used them for eye protection against blood splashes.

But can you imagine a projectile targeted against the head with the velocity of a bullet (they are not called rubber bullets for nothing, they are classified as non lethal weapons, go figure) and hitting the eye, when wearing such protection, it would fragment and cause even more damage.

Not a good idea.

Rowan Cocoan · 2019-01-27T06:41:50Z

Joan I had a serve of about 135? - 160? mph.. Once, I had an idiot in a tournament violate cardinal rule #1 in RB: NEVER look backwards at the guy taking a shot behind you. (I was stretched out to smack it as it came off the back wall and was about 6" from the ground.)

As I turned my head to follow my shot, I was surprised that I saw his open-mouthed face looking Right Back (and BACKWARDS) at me to 'prove' I'd not gotten 2-4? of those returns already. His thoughts were easy to see in his face:

1. His first thought was "Damn! I should have believed all my fans and friends who kept saying that he REALLY WAS repeatedly 'getting' my -(up til now) 'impossible to get' shot; followed quickly by :

2. Oh, Sh*t! I'm violating Rule Number One!

3. POW!!!! GOGGLES GO FLYING, AND HE GOES DOWN.

The shot hit him in the left eyeshield of his IRA-approved eye guards. It wasn't that hard - say 75 mph? - but it blew the lens out of the glasses into his eye and the whole left side of his face was swollen like M. Ali had used the left side of his face for a puncing bag. (Off to the hospital.) Happily, he only ended up with a super-bad black eye.

Shotgun fired 'rubber bullets' do not go nearly as fact as 'bullets' and have an undersized powder charge and a 'rainbow trajectory.'

Conclusion: RB Goggles would have saved his eye.

R.C.

Your-head-is-best · 2019-01-27T10:55:56Z

Next level shit... The question is simply: Will the French people be beaten into submission? I hope not!!!

Rowan Cocoan · 2019-01-27T16:32:24Z

Your-head-is-best Actually, more accurately, 'lower level sh*t.'; vis a vis the seriousness of the larger picture; and more particularly as I ain't typing in French. (I acknowledge the fact that we have multiple multi-linguals here - I wish I were one of them.)*

R.C.

*There's (hopefully) time left still.

RC

baron · 2019-01-27T11:05:38Z

You cannot rule with absolute terror forever and that's all this is. The more of this that goes down the greater the odds that when the tide turns to open violence there won't be a safe place for either the police or the nut case who is giving them their orders.