Jérôme Rodrigues

Jérôme Rodrigues
Jérôme Rodrigues in February 2019 during a Parisian demonstration.
Born	(1979-06-01) 1 June 1979 (age 45)
Nationality	French
Occupation(s)	Plumber, activist
Known for	Yellow Vests Movement

Jérôme Rodrigues is a French lead figure in the populist Yellow Vests Movement, advocating for social demands and participating in demonstrations and The True Debate. On January 26, 2019, while filming a protest at Place de la Bastille in Paris, Rodrigues was hit by a sting ball grenade, resulting in the loss of his right eye. He has since become a symbol of police violence in a social movement that saw severe repression and significant injuries.

Life outside activism

Jérôme Rodrigues was born in Montreuil in 1979 to a Portuguese father and a French mother.^[1] He lived in Tremblay-en-France and later came to reside and work in Paris. In 2018, he retrained to become a plumber,^[2][3] and in 2019, he starting working in his sister's construction company.^[1]

In 2005, Rodrigues voted against the European Constitution project, and during the 2017 French presidential election he voted in the first round for a left-wing candidate.^[1]

Suspected of domestic violence against his partner Jennifer Velasques, he was arrested on July 28, 2019, with his police custody lifted the next day after his partner retracted her statements during a subsequent hearing with investigators.^[4]

Activism

Eye loss incident

On January 26, 2019, Jérôme Rodrigues stood on Place de la Bastille in Paris during Act XI of the Yellow Vests movement. A shot from a riot gun and a simultaneous throw of a sting ball grenade hit a group of demonstrators where Rodrigues and another protester, Mickaël, were standing. Rodrigues, who was filming the arrival of the procession on the square, was injured and lost his right eye.^[5][6] French newspaper Libération reported on February 11 that the Yellow Vests movement had experienced significant repression over eight weeks, resulting in 82 serious injuries, including numerous mutilations.^[7] He then became a symbol of police violence within this movement.^[8]

In February 2021, the police officer accused of throwing the sting-ball grenade that caused Rodrigues to lose his eye was indicted for "voluntary violence resulting in mutilation or permanent disability." A second police officer was charged with "aggravated voluntary violence" against the other protester, Mickaël.^[9][10] On March 11, 2021, a provisional compensation of €30,000 was awarded for the loss of his eye.^[11]

Other activism

Jérôme Rodrigues is close with fellow Yellow Vest Éric Drouet, with whom he shares frequent Facebook live discussions about organizing demonstrations. Since December 2018, Rodrigues has been actively involved on Facebook, calling for mobilization and announcing his media appearances. He also films and broadcasts live during the demonstrations. His close associates describe him as a peaceful protester who always calls for calm and unity.^[2][12][13]

Rodrigues participated in the organization of The True Debate, a citizen debate organized by the movement in response to the Great National Debate initiated by Emmanuel Macron, which resulted in 59 proposals on four main themes: "profound transformation of the political system," "strengthening public service," "tax justice," and "solidarity-based, accessible ecology."^[14]

In April 2019, he participated in a debate The Yellow Vests facing the European Union ahead of the European elections, held at the Bourse du Travail. Other participants included Torya Akroum from the Rungis collective, lawyers involved in the Yellow Vests movement, such as François Boulo and Juan Branco, as well as researchers like historian Ludivine Bantigny and sociologist and political scientist Frédéric Pierru.^[15]

In August 2019, he announced the need for a break from activism, stating he had received insults and death threats. Around the same time, French news channel La Chaîne Info reported the widespread use of caricatures depicting Rodrigues as a cyclops on social media.^[16]

After calling the police "a bunch of Nazis" in a tweet, Rodrigues was prosecuted by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. He was acquitted on April 6, 2021, as the Paris court ruled that his remarks "targeted not all police officers but the methods of some of them."^[17]

On February 12, 2022, during the Freedom Convoy, a protest against freedom restrictions, including the vaccine passport, which was banned that day in Paris by the police prefecture,^[18] Rodrigues was arrested near the Élysée Palace. The charges against him were "organizing a prohibited protest" and "participating in a group formed to commit violence." His lawyer, David Libeskind, stated that Rodrigues considers himself a political prisoner and was not an organizer of the protest, stating "he only relays information on his Facebook page."^[19] Libeskind mentioned that "for several years my client has been harassed by the police and the Paris police prefecture with repeated identity checks," and that Rodrigues' criminal record is clean and he has never been convicted of any crime.^[20][10] Following the arrests, 8 protesters, including Rodrigues, were to be tried on July 8, 2022.^[21][22]

On March 16, 2023, during a protest against the pension reform project in Paris, Rodrigues was arrested and taken into custody.^[23]

References

1. "Portrait: Jérôme Rodrigues, martyr un jour". Libération. February 3, 2019.
2. "Jérôme Rodrigues, the injured activist who became a figure of the Yellow Vests". Le Parisien. January 31, 2019.
3. "Who is Jérôme Rodrigues, who became a symbol among the Yellow Vests?". Le Progrès. February 3, 2019.
4. "Suspicions of domestic violence: police custody lifted for Yellow Vest Jérôme Rodrigues". L'Express. July 29, 2019.
5. Amandine Pointel (January 28, 2019). "Jérôme Rodrigues injured in the eye: a witness tells the story". Le Parisien.
6. "Two police officers indicted for violence against "Yellow Vests," including Jérôme Rodrigues, who lost his eye". Le Monde. February 10, 2021.
7. Jacques Pezet (January 11, 2019). "Yellow Vests violence: grenade shrapnel, burns, limbs torn off... a look back at 82 serious injuries". Libération.
8. "Yellow Vests: What happened to the movement's figures?". Le Télégramme. November 11, 2019.
9. AFP (February 10, 2021). "Yellow Vests: a police officer indicted two years after Jérôme Rodrigues was maimed". L'Express.
10. AFP (February 13, 2022). ""Freedom convoy": in police custody since Saturday, Jérôme Rodrigues claims to be a "political prisoner"". France Info.
11. AFP (March 16, 2021). "€30,000 in provisional compensation for Jérôme Rodrigues, a maimed Yellow Vest". Ouest France.
12. AFP (January 27, 2019). ""Yellow Vests": who is Jérôme Rodrigues, one of the figures of the movement, injured in the eye on Saturday in Paris?". France Télévisions.
13. "Yellow vests: France to ban masks at protests amid unrest". BBC. January 31, 2019.
14. AFP (October 28, 2019). ""Yellow Vests": Movement figures demand a meeting with Emmanuel Macron". 20 Minutes.
15. Jules Fevre (April 10, 2019). ""The Yellow Vests facing the European Union": a lively and radical debate at the Paris Labour Exchange". Révolution permanente.
16. "Jérôme Rodrigues, one of the "Yellow Vests" figures, announces he will stay in a rest home". FranceTV Info. August 30, 2019.
17. AFP (April 6, 2021). "Insults to police officers: Jérôme Rodrigues, a figure of the "Yellow Vests" movement, has been acquitted". Le Monde.
18. "Freedom convoys against health restrictions banned in Paris and Brussels". Le Monde. February 10, 2022.
19. "Freedom convoy: Jérôme Rodrigues has been in police custody since Saturday, claiming to be a "political prisoner"". MSN (in French). February 14, 2022.
20. "Freedom convoy: Jérôme Rodrigues, arrested on Saturday, claims to be a "political prisoner"". La Dépêche. February 13, 2022.
21. "Anti-pass protests: Jérôme Rodrigues to be tried on July 8". Le Figaro. February 14, 2022.
22. "Jérôme Rodrigues summoned to court in July". Le Courrier Picard. February 14, 2022.
23. "Pension reform: Jérôme Rodrigues, figure of the Yellow Vests, taken into custody after a protest against article 49.3". La Dépêche. March 17, 2023.