In 2020, elected officials were 1,276 times the target of attacks, an increase of 200% compared to 2019, revealed FranceInfo, Tuesday, March 30, noting that, last year, more than 500 mayors or deputies were physically attacked, 68 homes of elected officials targeted as well as 63 private vehicles vandalized.
Faced with this violence, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin affirmed in a press release his desire to "
train the mayors of France in the management of incivility and aggressions that they may face
" through training supervised by the national cell of GIGN negotiation.
Read also: Loire-Atlantique: mayors trained by the GIGN to deal with incivility and insecurity
"
The goal is to allow mayors to be able to seize all the keys to understanding to disarm conflicts, facilitate dialogue and re-establish communication with the individual or individuals in question,
" said the press release.
Already in 2019, a consultation of the Senate revealed that, out of the 3,800 mayors questioned, 92% declared having been victims of incivility, insults, threats or attacks.
Gendarmes in the skin of attackers
How to react to insults, death threats, physical attacks or offensive tags?
This is the question that nearly 350 negotiators are trying to answer in the face of the 35,000 mayors to whom the formation of the intervention group of the national gendarmerie (GIGN) was proposed by the Ministry of the Interior and the Association of Mayors of France (AMF).
The elected volunteers are trained for four hours via theoretical courses, but also through practical exercises, where the gendarmes slip into the skin of the aggressors.
Read also: Near a local elected official attacked every day
“
When you are a candidate for election, you never ask yourself this type of question.
We are elected for a territory project, and not at all to experience these situations
”, confided to the microphone of France 2 the mayor of Pierrelatte (Drôme) Alain Gallu, who participated in one of the first training sessions last February. in Nantes, in Loire-Atlantique.
A first experience widely applauded by all elected officials.
Faced with the success of these training courses, the national police will soon also be offering similar courses, developed within the National Police Academy.