The interdepartmental delegate to the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred Frédéric Potier said Sunday expecting " exemplary sanctions " if it is proven that the police have exchanged racist messages on Facebook. " I expect exemplary sanctions in this area, " he said on Franceinfo, when asked about the revelation of the existence of a private group on Facebook reserved for law enforcement and where racist messages are exchanged. .
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Friday, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner seized justice and the parquet floor of Paris opened an investigation.
" We must have a very high level of demands on them, because they are the ones who carry out legitimate violence, the only legitimate one in a democratic society. They have a duty of exemplarity as civil servants, and a fortiori as civil servants who exercise this type of prerogatives, ”added Frédéric Potier. He underlines that " racism has no place in democracy, racism has no place in the police ". " When you are a civil servant, whatever your level, whatever your grade, you represent the Republic, you represent the State and you therefore have a duty of exemplarity, " he adds.
According to him, " there is a significant generational gap between young peacekeepers who arrive in the national police and who are very sensitive to these questions, and other police officers who have been in service for a few years and who may be. -be less, because these questions were not addressed before in the training. “ There is this initial training and obviously also a subject for ongoing training. We do it too, just I think we still have room for improvement. "
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The shock wave caused by the death of George Floyd in the United States continued to spread on Saturday in France where more than 23,000 demonstrators, according to the Minister of the Interior, denounced the police violence and demanded " justice for all " .
In a column published in the JDD, the LREM deputy for Ille-et-Vilaine Florian Bachelier and the lawyer Eric Dupont-Moretti ask to make public " urgently sanctions for breaches ". " Let us give statistical accounts, rethink identity checks, including thanks to digital, " they add. “ No, the Republican police must not, cannot and is not racist. Yes, a police officer who commits a racist act must have his uniform immediately removed , ”they write. Because, they explain, "this is the condition for the daughters and sons of France who have chosen to wear the uniform of the Republic to be respected, the law applied, civil peace assured ".