French cop cleared over dam protester's death

A French court on Tuesday dismissed the case against a gendarme who fired the grenade that killed a green activist during a protest against the construction of a dam in the south of France in 2014.

A memorial to Rémi Fraisse at the site of the Sivens dam project where he was killed AFP

Rémi Fraisse was killed at the age of 21 when gendarmes fired grenades during clashes at a site occupied by protesters against the construction of the Sivens dam.

His death sparked protests across the country.

The court in Toulouse recognised that Fraisse was "calm, measured, peaceful young man" with no record of "aggression or violence against institutions or representatives of the forces of order".

But it found there was no case to answer over his death.

His father, Jean-Pierre Fraisse, slammed a "decision taken on high" and said he would appeal.

"What kind of country are we living in if France cannot find the truth when someone is killed?" he asked after the decision.

The gendarme's lawyer, Jean Tamalet, said the decision was "inevitable since nobody had been charged".

France's Green party, EELV, said it "regrets" the ruling and far-left former presidential candidate Olivier Besançenot declared, "Without justice you will never have peace."

The kind of grenade that killed Fraisse was banned three weeks after his death.

The dam project was dropped but another, smaller one is still being examined.

The site was evacuated in March 2015.