Paris musicians describe tear-gas exposure during an outdoor rehearsal

Members of the Orchestre du Nouveau Monde say they were caught in tear gas while rehearsing at Place de la République in Paris before a demonstration. The musicians had been preparing an afternoon performance connected with a national protest over the cost of living.

The incident occurred as police and masked groups confronted one another nearby. The available account does not establish whether the musicians were deliberately targeted, and that question remains separate from their description of being exposed to the gas.

The ensemble, which connects its work with social and climate justice, described shock, anger and sadness after the interruption. Its account brings attention to the vulnerability of performers working in open civic spaces, where a concert or rehearsal may share ground with events beyond the musicians’ control.

No verified finding about responsibility or the precise deployment of tear gas has been presented in the material available for this report. Nor does that material establish a complete medical assessment of those affected. Those gaps should remain visible when the incident is discussed.

The immediate cultural issue is nevertheless clear. An ensemble preparing to contribute music to a public gathering found its rehearsal overtaken by a confrontation around it. For the musicians, participation in civic life and the conditions needed to perform became inseparable.

Further clarification would require a fuller timeline, the relevant police account and any independently documented evidence from the square. Such information could distinguish the effects experienced by the orchestra from the decisions that produced them.

For now, the report concerns the musicians’ experience and their objection to it. It should neither minimise that experience nor turn an unresolved sequence of events into a settled claim that police intentionally attacked an orchestra.