"
The problem with the police is justice!"
": The judiciary was the target of the unions, Wednesday, May 19, in front of the National Assembly where thousands of police officers gathered, two weeks after the murder of Brigadier Eric Masson and at the approach of important electoral deadlines.
According to the organizers, more than 35,000 people responded to the call of the police unions.
The results of the mobilization according to the authorities were not yet available.
To read also: Policeman killed in Avignon: the police denounce the weakness of Justice
Very criticized by the opposition, the arrival of Gérald Darmanin, who made his way with difficulty in a compact crowd, went smoothly, to the sounds of horns and whistles, usual accessories of the police in demonstration. Some took selfies with him. “
We must help us!
“, However, questioned several demonstrators. "
Every evening, when I go to bed, I think of you,
" replied the minister to a policeman who told him that he did not know, when he left for work, "
how
" he "was
going to come back
".
The Keeper of the Seals Eric Dupond-Moretti, absent from the rally, was the target of demonstrators and unions, who demand a stronger criminal response, and in particular that minimum sentences be imposed on police attackers.
From the rostrum, on which was stretched a black banner "
Paid to serve, not to die
", the general secretary of the Alliance union, Fabien Vanhemelryck, whistled "
this minister who declares I am the minister of prisoners
(and of prison administration, editor's note) ”.
"
The problem with the police is justice!"
“Thundered the trade unionist, to applause.
To read also: Dive into the heart of the “human resources” of the police
"
Minimum sentences for aggressors, this is the strong and clear message that we are waiting for
", previously declared Grégory Joron of SGP Police-FO Unit.
“
This measure is not liberticidal, nor unconstitutional, nor nauseating,
” he added.
Several testimonies from injured police officers or their relatives were spoken or broadcast on the platform.
Elected representatives from all sides present
The unions gathered - quite rare - in inter-union had wanted a mobilization "
without political recovery
" while security has emerged as one of the main themes of the regional campaign in a month, and the presidential election in a year.
However, from the National Rally to the Communist Party, via the Socialist Party and the ecologist Yannick Jadot, elected officials from all sides joined the rally.
To read also: Violence against the police: "The incomprehension between police and justice is not inevitable"
"
The new horizon drawn by our ministers and elected officials by participating in this event and thus joining forces with the police is that of a society in which the police become an autonomous power instead of being a public force in the service of citizens
”, rebelled in a press release the magistrate's union (SM, classified on the left).
The unions have decided to organize this rally two weeks to the day after the murder of Brigadier Eric Masson, killed on a deal point in Avignon.
A drama that shook the police, already marked by the assassination on April 23 of Stéphanie Monfeture, administrative agent at the Rambouillet police station (Yvelines), by a Tunisian who would have become radicalized.
According to union officials, many “
angry
” and “
disgusted
”
police officers
see the death of the sergeant during this banal intervention a symbol of repeated violence against them, which requires a
more firm “
criminal response
”.
Pledges to unions
From Avignon, the government has already given pledges to the unions, received on May 10 in Matignon. Prime Minister Jean Castex has notably committed to extending the safety period to thirty years for people sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime against a police officer or a gendarme. The government tabled an amendment to this effect on Wednesday as part of the examination at the Palais Bourbon of the bill for "
confidence
" in the justice of Eric Dupond-Moretti. It should be voted on within the week.
Jean Castex also said he was in favor of a stricter limitation of the possibilities of reducing sentences for those who attack the police. But the unions deplore that their "
most important demand
", "
the implementation of minimum sentences
" (also called floor sentences) for "
attackers of the police
", has not been "
taken into account
" .
