A Nigerian national who had been refused asylum in France was arrested on Wednesday for an attack on border force agents that left two police officers injured.
The incident occurred in the French Mediterranean resort of Port-la-Nouvelle on Wednesday morning during what was supposed to be a simple identity check at the Narbonne train station.
When police asked him for his identification, the 24-year-old suspect refused to provide papers and began striking the officers, according to French newspaper L’Independent.
“It turns out that the respondent is an asylum seeker in France. It had been refused to him, a decision which he appealed,” said the Alliance Union of Aude in a statement. The police officers asked the individual to follow them, but he refused and fought back “very” violently.
After several minutes of trying to arrest the man, the police officers eventually pinned him down.
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The two police officers, both middle-aged males, sustained minor injuries and later complained of knee and back pain.
Their attending physician prescribed 15 days off work, and a medical examiner of the Medical-Judicial Unit will decide Thursday on the duration of their temporary incapacity to work. According to local reports, the officers will have limited range of movement due to their injuries.
France has struggled to deport rejected asylum seekers and migrants scheduled for deportation. Despite French President Emmanuel Macron setting the goal of a 100 percent deportation rate, the actual rate is less than 7 percent. With the murder of 12-year-old Paris girl Lola by an illegal Algerian immigrant who was supposed to have already been deported, the issue of mass migration has once again dominated headlines and French political talk shows.
