80 year-old Zineb Redouane died after being shot in the face by police with a tear gas grenade as she closed her window. Zineb was killed by the reckless use of tear gas grenades during a protest outside her home.
Zineb lived in Marseille, France, and found joy in music and flowers. On the evening of 1 December 2018, she was preparing dinner and chatting to her daughter on the phone in her fourth-floor apartment. In the streets below, people were protesting about poor living conditions in Marseille after two residential buildings collapsed, killing eight people. Police officers were using tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Realizing that tear gas was entering through her open window, Zineb went to close it when she noticed police officers in the street below. What happened next was truly awful. One of the police officers pointed a tear gas grenade launcher in Zineb’s direction and fired. She was hit in the face by an MP7 tear gas grenade.
She was taken to hospital with severe facial wounds and bleeding. She was suffocating because of the fractures in her jawbone and the collapse of the roof of her mouth. She needed surgery urgently, but it couldn’t be completed because she went into cardiac arrest under the anaesthetic. Zineb went into cardiac arrest several more times and died.
Zineb was killed by the reckless use of a tear gas grenade. Nearly four years later, an investigation into her death is still ongoing, and no one has been charged or suspended over the killing. Zineb’s family are still waiting for justice.
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