2023-08-21 18:31:00
On August 18, Domenico D., 31, was shot dead by the police during an intervention that did not go as planned. The young man was on a quad (four-wheeled motorcycle) when a police patrol told him to stop. The individual refuses to comply and rushes towards the two police officers. One is injured, the other shoots and fatally hits the driver. The facts took place in Oupeye, a relatively calm commune in Liège, which has since become the scene of some tension. Tensions which have also been exported to the neighboring town of Herstal.
Police car burned, patrols stoned, clashes multiply and the authorities fear a risk of conflagration, like what happened in France last April, after the death of Nahel, also fatally affected by a police shooting after a refusal to comply.
For Vincent Seron, professor of criminology at ULiège and specialist in the police, there are certain points of similarity, but the two situations are not really comparable.
Domenico killed by a policeman in Oupeye while riding a quad: “It’s a dangerous vehicle that must be banned in all cities”
Different social contexts
“If the origin of the anger of the citizens, in France and in Belgium, is a little identical – namely a death on the sidelines of a police check – we are still in somewhat different circumstances, explains the professor. Nahel’s death, in Nanterre, was filmed, and so everyone could see how it happened. We could see, on the images, that the policeman had brandished a gun to the young man’s temple before to shoot him, which was not the case in Oupeye”.
The investigation is still ongoing, but it seems that Domenico’s death was the result of an act of self-defense. This is at least one of the theses exposed for the moment. A question then arises: didn’t the Liège police officers have the possibility of neutralizing Domenico by shooting elsewhere?
“Today, because we are after the facts, we can more easily say that the shooting could have been different, without necessarily targeting the head of the individual on his quad. It is far too early to draw conclusions, warns Vincent Seron. And then, it is still necessary to know if the shot was deliberately framed or not, if the police officer did not simply react in a stressful context. Because even for a police officer, it is difficult to adopt the right technique when you are in this kind of situation. At the same time, you could also say that the police should be trained to be able to intervene by shooting elsewhere, but it is easier to say after the fact.
What about the risks of conflagration after this dramatic news item? For the criminologist, it is unlikely that we will see riots in Oupeye (or Herstal) as was the case in France after Nahel’s death. “The Basse-Meuse police area is relatively calm. Yes, there are offenses and the police must intervene from time to time, but we are not in a police area where there are recurring police interventions, such as c is the case in other urban police areas of the country, such as Brussels”.
And Vincent Seron added: “Unlike France, we are not in a context of sensitive suburbs which are rising either. We are not witnessing that in Oupeye, perhaps a little in Herstal, but by effect halo and disproportionate to what we saw in France after Nahel’s death.”
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Amalgamation and import
For the professor, the only point of comparison between the situations in France and in Belgium concerns the appeal of contesting police action. According to Vincent Seron, each problematic fact – however small – in which the police would be involved can cause tension. As an opportunity to seize to express his dislike for the police. “Whether in France or in Belgium, we are witnessing a series of problematic behaviors. Sometimes they are qualified as police violence, sometimes not, then allowing justice to give reason to the police. But in any case, this succession of problematic events remains fertile ground for contesting police action, explains the professor. We see it in Oupeye and Herstal: we do not know the ins and outs of the story, but we are witnessing a reaction of a part of the citizens incriminating the whole of the police following a single event”.
Vincent Seron also points to an “amalgam” and even evokes an “import” of a series of problems in Belgium, with a view to more openly criticizing police action. “There was Georges Floyd, and recently Nahel. This sedimentation only fuels a recurring questioning of the police, because confidence in this institution has weakened over the years. It has reached a point of organ during the period of the attacks. Today, this context is far behind us, so the feeling towards the police is negative. As if the police no longer had any use. In such a context, every police action that goes wrong will fuel new tensions, that’s for sure”.
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