Physical violence, verbal violence… An Ardèche police officer was accused by opponents of the road project. A preliminary investigation against him was opened on Tuesday, the Privas prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
The investigation relates to allegations made following Saturday’s police arrest. They were entrusted to the Inspectorate General of Police (IGPN), said prosecutor Céline Nainani.
The police officer was the target of two separate reports made by environmental activists, opposing a diversion project on the department’s road 86, near Saint-Péray (Ardèche), said the activist’s lawyer, Me Thomas Fourrey.
A controversial project
One of them was inappropriate and threatening behavior, as well as lewd statements, that police officers allegedly made toward an activist who was detained by police for nine hours on Saturday at the Guilherand-Granges police station, the lawyer reported. Another was about violence and homophobic remarks attributed to the same police officers during a demonstration against a highway project on September 14, according to I Thomas Fourrey.
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This first report “was the subject of a transmission and request for explanation from my prosecutor, on September 28, 2025, to his hierarchical authorities. He is now also included in the ongoing legal investigation,” said Céline Nainani.
Contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), Ardèche national police management did not want to comment on the “ongoing criminal investigation”.
This controversial project concerns a less than 3 km section that is an extension of the Valence bypass road, on the west bank of the Rhône river.
Opposed to the artificialization of the land and concerned about loss of biodiversity, opponents of the project have stepped up demonstrations to block the project’s progress, which has led to several incidents.
The Privas prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into aggravated violence following a demonstration by opponents on 10 September, in which a gas bottle was stolen and sprayed by a police officer, an act described as “unacceptable aggression” by the prefect of Ardèche.
