Imagine the scene: a brawl on the tram tracks, bystanders screaming, onlookers filming with their smartphones, motorists forced to wait, and a police patrol arriving at speed, officers jumping out to separate two young men fighting, restraining one of them and shielding themselves from bystanders attempting to interfere.
The chaos outlined above was recorded in two short videos sent to RTL by email on Sunday. Filmed on mobile phones, the footage shows parts of what happened last Saturday evening on Avenue de la Liberté, not far from Luxembourg City’s central station. The videos were forwarded to RTL by Mrs Crisalida S, the mother of one of the two teenagers, who contacted the newsroom to voice strong concerns about the police response.
Mrs Crisalida S believes her son, D, was treated unfairly. Her allegations of unfair treatment arise because D was detained by police, even though she claims it was the other boy, M – seen in the video wearing white – who started the altercation before fleeing the scene. She was later called to the police station in Bonnevoie to collect her son. Both M and D are 17 years old, making them minors.
The incident has a backstory, she explained while speaking to RTL on Monday evening. While the two teenagers were not friends, they shared mutual acquaintances, often played football together and regularly spent time in the same places. On weekends, for example, they would meet near well-known fast-food restaurants in the Gare district.
According to her account, a few days before the incident, M approached her son during a football match and insulted him. D denies this, saying he did not react and told M he wanted no trouble.
On Saturday, however, the situation escalated into a fight, as shown in the videos. D claims he was in a fast-food restaurant with friends when M suddenly approached him and asked to speak outside. Although D agreed to meet him outside, M began insulting him and then punched him in the face. D subsequently defended himself.
The events described broadly align with the video footage of the fight, but are difficult to discern. The beginning of the altercation is not captured in the footage reviewed by RTL. While the images show the person wearing white ,M, initially gaining the upper hand over D, who is dressed in black, the point at which the recording begins makes it difficult to determine who first instigated the fight.
As those involved are minors, RTL has chosen not to publish their names and will release only blurred screenshots rather than the full videos.
Once the fight moved onto the tram tracks, a witness shouts (in French) for the boys to be moved out of the street due to an oncoming car. At this point, a group of bystanders attempts to intervene, but a police patrol arrives on the scene. The first officer begins to pull people apart but ends up falling to the ground with D. The second officer immediately jumps in to help. While both officers are focused on D, M takes the opportunity to escape.
Watching the footage, D’s mother, was upset and criticised the police for restraining her son with their knees while allowing M to escape. In her view, this was a disproportionate reaction from the police and she therefore intends to file a complaint against both M and the police in the coming days.
As of Monday evening, she has received no information on whether the other teenager had been contacted by the authorities. She was called to the police station on Saturday, and when she received the videos the following day, she was angry and contacted RTL. While watching the footage, she felt that her son had been treated unfairly and unnecessarily aggressively by the police, particularly, as she claims, “nothing was done” about the other boy.
In her account, she further claims her son had neither been intoxicated nor resisted the police. As a result of the intervention, he sustained grazed knees, a swollen lip, and general body aches, prompting a hospital visit on Monday. D is described by his mother as of slim build and “usually a very calm person.”
On Monday, RTL contacted the police and presented them with the video footage. The police confirmed the deployment on Saturday evening on Avenue de la Liberté:
“The officers were on patrol on Rue de Strasbourg shortly after 10pm on 27 December 2025 when they were alerted by passers-by to an altercation on Avenue de la Liberté. The patrol drove to the scene and attempted to separate the individuals involved. One of the two was successfully restrained, while the other fled.”
Police added, after the initial intervention, several bystanders had to be kept at a distance after failing to follow instructions and attempting to interfere. When reinforcements arrived shortly afterwards, no longer visible in the video footage, two individuals who continued to disrupt the operation were searched.
Elements of Criselda S’ account were confirmed by police: “The minor involved in the brawl was taken to the police station, the parents were informed, and both a child protection report and a police report were filed.”
In their response to RTL, the police clarified what is most important during such interventions: “It should be noted that in cases like these, the police’s priority is always to calm the situation on the ground, separate those involved, and restore public order. In doing so, officers must, of course, remain mindful of their own safety and that of others present”.
Arguably, the videos clearly show that the situation on the Avenue de la Liberté could have escalated rapidly. Many bystanders are present, some filming, others shouting. However, the two police officers first on the scene are clearly outnumbered and, as the police themselves note, have to fend off interference.
The filming of this incident is not unique. Videos frequently appear on social media or are sent to local newsrooms showing fights in the Gare district in the evening or disturbances on the terraces of Place de Paris at night.
The recent video raises the question of whether filming the police is allowed, to which the police’s response is clear: “Generally, a police officer on duty, who is identifiable as such by their uniform, can be filmed in a public place”.
According to police, the issue is more nuanced. In an email response, officers said that context and intent are key when filming police during an intervention, noting that the question is less about recording itself than about how the material is used, particularly when it is published.
Police said a distinction must be made between recordings made in a general public context and footage that deliberately targets an officer as the main subject. They added that when filming takes place in a location not accessible to the public, the consent of those present is generally required.
A police spokesperson further explained that if an officer is deliberately filmed and considers their dignity to have been harmed by the publication of the images, or if false information is disseminated, the officer may request that the material be deleted or corrected under the General Data Protection Regulation. The spokesperson also referred to the GDPR’s ‘right to be forgotten’.
What role the video footage will ultimately play in the Avenue de la Liberté case remains unclear. Police said it could form part of the investigation, but stressed that the circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation.
