An award-winning Syrian photojournalist wounded in a Paris
protest against police brutality said Sunday he had suffered a “heavy
shock” and the experience had reawoken memories from the civil war in his
home country.

Ameer al-Halbi, a freelance
photographer who has worked for AFP, said after being hurt in the protests
Saturday he was trapped for several hours with head wounds unable to get to
hospital.

A police source said on
Sunday an internal administrative inquiry has been opened to determine the
circumstances under which al-Halbi was hurt in the protests.

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“I am better this
morning,” said al-Halbi, who won several international awards for his
coverage of the Syrian conflict in his home city of Aleppo for AFP.

“But the shock was very
heavy, especially yesterday when I found myself wounded, bleeding heavily in my
face and stuck for two hours in the demonstration — wedged between
demonstrators and the police who did not want to let us out to get to
hospital,” he told AFP.

“Images of Syria surged
back into my head… I was aged 15 when I found myself blocked in a
demonstration in Aleppo, wounded by two bullets in my hand. It was Aleppo that
came back to me last (Saturday) night.”

He said that when police had
began a charge to disperse the crowds in Paris he was in a group of four to
five photographers who were “clearly recognisable” as such.

Al-Halbi, who has also worked
for Polka magazine, was seen with a bruised face and much of his head covered
in bandages in AFP photos.

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Christophe Deloire, secretary
general of Reporters Without Borders, tweeted that the 24-year-old had been
wounded at Place de la Bastille by “a police baton”.

Polka Magazine and AFP both
condemned the incident in statements Sunday.

“We are shocked by the
injuries suffered by our colleague Ameer al-Halbi and condemn the unprovoked
violence,” said Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director, demanding that
the police investigate the incident.

A statement from Polka
magazine also condemned the “police aggression” against Alhalbi.

The magazine’s Director of
Publication Alain Genestar said the incident was “all the more shocking
and reprehensible” because he was clearly identified as a press
photographer.

Al-Halbi won second prize in
the “Spot News” category for the World Press Photo in 2017.