Prosecutors Seek Suspended Terms In France's 'shirt-ripping' Trial

(@FahadShabbir)

Prosecutors seek suspended terms in France's 'shirt-ripping' trial

BOBIGNY, France, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -27th Sep,2016) - Prosecutors on Wednesday called for suspended jail terms of between two and five months against five Air France workers accused of being "thugs" who assaulted executives over planned layoffs.

Captured on camera, the so-called "shirt-ripping" attack made headlines around the world, highlighting the tensions in France's labour relations. On the second day of a trial in the northeastern Paris suburbs, prosecutor Philippe Bourion said the attack had been perpetrated by "thugs".

"It was not something that was carried out by trade unions, (but) by troublemakers and, ultimately, thugs," he said. The incident occurred on October 5 2015 at the French airline's headquarters at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport, when management unveiled a restructuring plan, entailing the loss of 2,900 jobs, to workforce representatives.

More than 2,000 workers staged an angry protest rally outside, and about a hundred of them broke through the main gate and headed toward the conference room. One executive was left naked to the waist and had to climb over a perimeter fence to escape the hostile crowd.

Another was escorted to safety by security guards with his shirt and jacket ripped. Bourion called for a four-month suspended term for one of the defendants, Fabrice Lhermitte, and three months for Pascal Maquet, Samir Ait Taleb and Vincent Martinez, a representative of the personnel.