Police demonstrate in Paris on June 23, 2020 (illustration). – Bastien LOUVET / BRST / SIPA
Charges of violence and racism continue to make waves in the police French. More than 200 police gathered on Friday evening outside the Bataclan in Paris, symbolic place of the attacks of November 13, to protest against these accusations against their profession, and denounce a lack of support from the Interior.
A Marseillaise as a protest song
Several dozen vans, motorcycles, and cars blocked the street outside the concert hall around 11:30 p.m. In plain clothes or in uniform, weapon on their belts, the police placed their handcuffs in silence on the pavement, before intoning a Marseillaise in protest. “We refute the accusations of violence and pseudo-racism,” breathed one of the participants, on condition of anonymity. “We do not understand having been acclaimed at the time of the attacks and being singled out today. “
The minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner has for more than a month been finding it increasingly difficult to calm the anger of its troops. “Our hierarchy lets us go on pasture on the public highway,” lamented a police officer from Val-de-Marne, who came for the occasion. “They ask us for a lot of things, they don’t give us means and then they spit on us. (…) They want to remove the throttle key from us, but what is the alternative? If we do it on someone, it is because that person is not very docile. “
“You are not alone”
During a trip to the national police school in Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d’Or, the minister nevertheless insisted on Friday on “respect” due to the police and reassured them of his support. “We will be there to defend your honor, each time it is attacked (…) you are not alone,” he said to several new officers and commissioners at the end of training. For the moment, this does not seem to be enough.
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