British tourists in Paris gassed by police after being arrested during pro-Palestinian protest

A British family on holiday were tear gassed by French police when they accidentally got caught up in pro-Palestinian protests.

Mother-of-one Radia Austin, 46, questioned whether Paris was a safe place to host the Olympics in July after her son Lawrence, eight, was left with acute eye problems.

She said the schoolboy screamed in pain after police “indiscriminately” threw tear gas canisters at the crowd.

Radia, Lawrence and his father Paul Austin, 45, were returning to their neighboring apartment when one of the cartridges landed at the boy’s feet.

And she says that although she asked the police for help, she was simply told to “wash her eyes.”

Two weeks later, she says Lawrence is still suffering from shooting pain in his eyes and needs to see a specialist.

Radia, from Betchworth, Surrey, said: “It was scary and traumatic – we felt our eyes burning and it was difficult to breathe, but my biggest worry was my little one.

“We just had to cross the road to get to our apartment, but as we were crossing we heard booming noises and then the gas came out.

“Before you know it, you can’t breathe and your eyes are burning, people start screaming and my son started screaming.

“All I did was go back to the police and say ‘please help us, my son is suffering’ but he just looked at us and didn’t help me.

“Since then he has had a lot of loud nightmares at night and keeps asking why the police did this to him.”

Radia, an English interpreter, Paul, a lawyer, and Lawrence visited the French capital from May 25 to 28 mid-term.

After visiting the Eiffel Tower, they returned to their apartment and discovered a pro-Palestinian demonstration nearby.

She said: “We were walking, hand in hand, behind a barrier on the tourist side where people were walking, not on the main road closed to protesters.

“(When they threw the cartridges) there was smoke and gas, it was like a war scene, it was surreal.

“We couldn’t reach the apartment even though the distance was so short. I didn’t know how my son was, he was in tears and screaming in pain because his eyes hurt.

“My son cried all night and the tear gas continued, I said I was going down but it was impossible to go out to eat or drink because the tear gas continued.”

Radia says the tear gas continued throughout the evening.

“When we got home, he still had some problems with his eyes. It could be hay fever, but the medicine didn’t work, so we made an appointment with a specialist,” Radia explained.

French police – the national police – did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, experts have warned that extreme heat in July and August could lead to the collapse or, worse, death of competitors at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

A group of 11 Olympians, climate scientists and heat physiologists from the University of Portsmouth have sounded the alarm in a new report, “Rings of Fire,” released Tuesday.

They said intensifying heatwaves had made it “impossible” to hold the Olympics in summer, as extreme temperatures limited athletes’ ability to perform and left them prone to potentially fatal heat exhaustion.

The average temperature in Paris during the Olympics is expected to be 21 degrees Celsius, but the maximum temperature can exceed 30°C on many days, making it more difficult for athletes to perform rigorous physical activities.