Linda Kebbab: "Saturday evening, the black blocks should not have been there"

Linda Kebbab is the national delegate of the SGP Police-FO Unit.

She published in 2020 at the Stock

Gardienne de la paix et de la revolte

FIGAROVOX.-

Linda KEBBAB.-

This violence inspires me a lot of anger, because one has the impression that the police officers are cannon fodder thrown as food to the most dangerous demonstrators.

This demonstration was very poorly managed, and the police were used as punching bags on behalf of motives which are foreign to them, since they did not demand this bill, wiping mortar fire and throwing molotov cocktails. , beatings, lynchings.

This violence was an outlet for disorderly professionals who were not mere demonstrators but belonged to black blocs.

What were they doing in this procession?

The management of the demonstration was not up to the risks posed to the police by the massive presence of members of the black blocs.

But really, I insist on this point: the police are not accountable for article 24 of the proposed comprehensive security law, and in particular for the communication errors that were made on this subject, and in the breach. which part of the public, lawyers and journalists included, has engulfed.

I believe that on this subject public opinion has been tossed about by confused and sometimes contradictory comments, and these demonstrations are the result of a political instrumentalisation of this confusion.

The far left and the black blocs have used this law as a pretext to sow chaos?

Yes, and their responsibility is extremely heavy.

But once again, the management of the demonstration was not up to the risks posed to the police by the massive presence of members of the black blocs.

They are not demonstrators like the others, but professionals of the junkyard.

They should not already have found themselves in tight rows facing the police on Saturday, but above all, the order to charge was given far too late, giving these thugs time to ransack the premises, and when the The police finally loaded the night had fallen, we could not see any more clearly and a huge mess reigned on the spot.

Finally the colleagues were exhausted after having wiped jets of projectiles for hours, they were at their end, had seen some of their own being lynched in front of their eyes.

We could also provide ourselves with the means to prevent individuals from the black blocs from regrouping during a demonstration: there is in criminal law a "crime of assembly" for this purpose, for example, or by systematizing the controls of identity at the start of the demonstration, and by calling out people who refuse to present their papers.

The anti-breakers law would have made it possible to strengthen these measures which protect both other demonstrators and the police, but it was partly censored ...

people do not know the reality of the experience of police officers, for whom the right to image does not exist.

Do you understand the anger of the demonstrators, fueled by the images of violence committed by four police officers against Michel Zecler?

This violence was taken in charge by the justice as soon as it was brought to the attention of the hierarchy, and it has already been severely condemned by the Minister and the Head of State.

We cannot say that they are encouraged, quite the contrary.

The images that have been shown on social networks are unbearable, they do not show the face that I know of the police, the one who protects and secures citizens on a daily basis.

Sporadic and ad hoc events are used to make people believe that the police are dangerous.

I believe that we must nevertheless think about the follow-up and the training, also the supervision, of the police officers, who must not lose their discernment under any pretext, even during difficult interventions.

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Did Article 24 of the bill unnecessarily ignite the powder?

I believe that people do not know the reality of the experience of police officers, for whom the right to image does not exist, unlike the rest of the population.

The dissemination of an image on social networks, whether it is a photo or a video, revealing the first name or the service of an agent, showing his face, or even his address or other private information likely to put him in danger, is authorized without it being possible to prevent it, but this endangers our police forces.

Many police officers have been attacked in their homes, in their backyards or in the halls of their buildings, and some have seen their children harassed at school simply for who they are.

It must stop.

This is why article 24 intends to create an additional offense, because unfortunately, as the Magnanville tragedy in 2016 again showed, revealing the identity of police officers without even calling for their murder is sometimes condemn.

This article protects us, although it may need to be rewritten so as not to hinder press freedom.

The decrease in the number of national police, which has been in operation for some twenty years, poses serious questions in terms of territorial equality.

As for the rest of the law, I do not necessarily have an opinion on all the other measures, except that I observe that the efforts made to give more powers to the private security forces and especially to the municipal police officers will not make it possible to compensate the decrease in the number of national police, which has been under way for some twenty years.

This raises serious questions in terms of territorial equality.