Former French boxing champ surrenders after punching police at protest

Christophe Dettinger turned himself in after being caught on camera assaulting a police officer. 

A former French boxing champion has turned himself in after video footage surfaced of him punching police officers during a ‘yellow vest’ protest in Paris last week.

Christophe Dettinger, a two-time national light-heavyweight boxing champion, was taking part in the latest wave of anti-government protests on Saturday. As the demonstrations grew more violent, the boxer was filmed jumping over the railing on a pedestrian bridge and throwing punches at several officers. Despite yielding batons and shields, the officers were forced to retreat momentarily.

According to Dettinger, he resorted to violence after police fired tear gas at protestors, some of whom had reportedly burned vehicles and barricades. Angry that his wife and friend were tear-gassed in the process, he decided to defend himself.

“I was gassed with my friend, my wife, and at some point I was taken over by anger, so yes I acted badly. I acted badly, but I defended myself,” Dettinger said in a video posted on Facebook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxkNFupN6zA

The French boxing federation condemned Saturday’s violence, saying it “ran completely contrary to the values of our sport”, AFP reports. “The French Boxing Federation sends its support to the family and loved ones of the officer who was a victim of this individual, but equally to all the security forces who have been on duty these last weeks.”

Dettinger’s attack took place at the eighth wave of yellow vest protests, which were attended by over 50,000 demonstrators. The protests began as a grassroots movement in November 2018, when French drivers dressed in yellow vests led a demonstration of over a quarter of a million people against rising taxes and diesel fuel. The protests have since escalated to widespread rage regarding living costs and President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies.

Dettinger, who works as a public servant at a town hall nearby Paris, took part in all eight waves of the protests for similar reasons.

”They stuff themselves on our backs but it is always us, the little people, who pay,” he says.