Fiorina Lignier

Fiorina Lignier, 20, suffered a serious injury to her eye after being struck by a tear gas canister on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on December 8, 2018. An online campaign has raised more than 50,000 euros for her. AFP interviewed her at home in Amiens, northern France, on February 13, 2019.

Why were you there?

I’d never been to a protest before, I’m not really into politics. When Macron became president, I thought he was going to change things but he just buried his head in the sand. France has the sixth strongest economy in the world and our pensioners have to work - it’s absurd! So the day before the fourth week of protests, Jacob (her boyfriend) and I decided to go to Paris.

What happened?

At about 2 o’clock, rioters started smashing shop windows. We were right at the top of the Champs-Elysees with about a hundred very peaceful yellow vests. There were no rioters there, nobody had their face covered or was behaving aggressively. Jacob and I weren’t wearing yellow vests; the shops had sold out. The gendarmes prevented us from retreating. The police charged and that was when I was hit by a canister. I felt a shock throughout my body. I blacked out for a few seconds. I had an initial operation to rebuild my eye, then I was in hospital for 16 days in Paris, where I had a second operation to restructure my face. They told me straight away I’d lost the use of my eye.

What is your life like now?

I’m going to have my eye removed because it hurts when it moves. I sleep all the time. I can’t stay standing for too long, I still get dizzy. The muscle which opens my eyelid was severed, so it doesn’t work anymore. Sometimes when I shower, my eyelid opens by itself and I can’t close it. I can’t read anymore. My life has completely changed, everything takes longer to do. Even 10 minutes of housework leaves me out of breath. The shutters are rarely open, I live like a mole. I get phantom pains. The fundraiser (a campaign has raised 50,000 euros for her) has been incredible. So much solidarity! ​