Suspensions follow shooting incident

The minister of defence has suspended five officers involved in the organisation of a demonstration that left 17 people injured by live rounds.

The suspensions come less than a week after the resignation of the army’s chief of staff, General Bruno Cuche.

Defence Minister Hervé Morin said: "The first indications from the investigation are that there were some serious breaches of the rules on the control of munitions.”

Morin said further disciplinary and judicial steps were possible after the investigation concludes.

Seventeen people, including a boy aged three, were injured when live bullets were fired into a crowd during a public paratrooper demonstration on a military base in Carcassonne in the South.

Doctors say the three-year-old boy, who was hit in the heart, was stable following an operation.

Those suspended are all from the Third Marine Parachute regiment and include the demonstration organiser, his deputy, the head of maintenance and logistics at the base and two other officers.

Photo:ijsendoorn