A French coach was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a violent clash with police officers in the centre of Paris.
Guillaume Berge, a coach for the French Canoe-Kayak Federation (FFCK), was taken into police custody at around 3am after he was initially caught urinating on a wall down the Louis-Philippe passage in the 11th arrondissement.
The 33-year-old, who was said to be celebrating in the city centre after France’s Nicolas Gestin won gold in the Olympic C1 canoeing final on Monday afternoon, is understood to have initially fled before being subdued by police, who used an electric pulse pistol.
Berge, who has been described as ‘physically imposing’, fell to the ground and dragged a police officer with him. He is accused of punching the officer in the face as he refused to be arrested.
Two other police officers rushed to help but were also assaulted. In an attempt to control Berge, one of the officers used their shock pistol on the Frenchman’s thigh and back, although it had no effect.
A police source told French newspaper, Le Parisien, that one of the officers delivered ‘several blows’ to Berge in an attempt to stop him from lashing out. It’s claimed that Berge was also kicked in the head during the scuffle.
Berge was eventually handcuffed and taken to the 11th arrondissement police station and placed in custody for ‘rebellion and violence against a public official’.
Berge, who was responsible for women’s kayak team, was one of three national coaches who were dismissed in September. He was subsequently offered another position at the FFCK, at their centre in Vaires-sur-Marne, which he accepted.
Speaking to L’Equipe about the FFCK’s decision to drop him as a coach, Berge said: ‘I don’t know if I expected congratulations but at least that the project would be encouraged. In the end, it’s a lot of frustration.
‘I have the feeling that we are not putting ourselves in the best possible position for the athletes ten months before the Games.’
Ludovic Roye, the national technical director of the FFCK, slammed Berge for his conduct and revealed was alerted to the incident early on Tuesday morning.
‘He is no longer an Olympic coach,’ Roye told Le Parisien.
‘He is still in our workforce but we are in the process of terminating his employment with him. This is unacceptable behavior. There are about seventy people in the federation and one of them slipped up. It is obviously surprising to be woken up at 7 in the morning for that.’
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