French ministers condemn ‘excessive use of force’ after Jewish youths were removed from plane in Spain

A summer camp counselor has accused Spanish law enforcement officers of using brute force against her during the removal of a group of French Jewish teenagers from a plane bound for Paris from Spain, French government ministers and her lawyer say.

Ministers Aurore Bergé and Benjamin Haddad met with the counselor yesterday after French authorities last week contacted the CEO of the Spanish low-cost airline Vueling and the Spanish ambassador to France to determine whether the youngsters had been discriminated against on the basis of their religion.

Forty-four minors and eight adult French passengers were kicked off flight V8166 from Valencia to Paris on July 23, for what Spanish police and the airline described as unruly behavior.

But the ministers say the counselor, who asked to remain anonymous and is described as “shocked,” disputed that account. They say she described the crew as hostile from the outset, saying a child briefly sang but stopped when asked, and claimed no behavior warranted the group’s removal or the Civil Guard’s response.

“No action justified the disembarkation or the excessive and brutal use of force by the Civil Guard against the young woman, who has just been notified of 15 days of total incapacity to work,” the ministers say in a statement, adding that her testimony had been corroborated by other passengers on board.

The counselor’s lawyer, Muriel Ouaknine Melki, tells The Associated Press that she was left with bruises on her legs, arms and body after she was brutally handcuffed and held in an arm lock. Ouaknine Melki said her team is collecting evidence before lodging a complaint.

A Vueling spokesperson said the passengers were removed after the minors repeatedly tampered with the plane’s emergency equipment and interrupted the crew’s safety demonstration. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the plane captain ordered the group’s removal at Valencia’s Manises Airport after they repeatedly ignored crew instructions.

Bergé and Haddad also lashed out at a statement from the Spanish minister of transport “equating French children of Jewish faith with Israeli citizens, as if that somehow justified the treatment they received.” Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente has deleted a tweet from July 26 in which he called the minors “Israeli brats.”