On the occasion of the arrival of the central director of public security, Jean-Marie Salanova, this Tuesday in Viroflay (Yvelines), François Bersani, the SGP Unit delegate, must challenge him on a problem that concerns all the police officers who intervene in sensitive areas of Île-de-France and which regularly come under mortar fire.
He asks that his colleagues, in particular those who intervene at night, be equipped with “non-fire” clothing.
At present in the Yvelines, the police benefit from nearly thirty of these clothes and if the union's request was followed up, it would take a hundred and fifty.
These uniforms are not flame retardant, but the fabric of these suits is treated to slow the progression of the flames.
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“Today only the support units which intervene in QRR (district of republican reconquest) can dispose of it.
In Yvelines, two towns are concerned, Trappes and Les Mureaux.
We ask that the night emergency police force in all the cities, who regularly come under mortar fire, also be provided with these outfits.
It is all the more absurd that the support units, such as the departmental intervention companies, do not work at night.
"
"We have been asking for the generalization of these outfits since October 2016"
In the entire Paris region, only sixteen zones benefit from this status.
Two per department in the outer suburbs, two in Hauts-de-Seine, four in Seine-Saint-Denis and four in Val-de-Marne.
But the mortar war does not stop at the administrative borders of these areas ...
The latest example in Yvelines, during the night of September 1 and 2 in Mantes-la-Jolie, around 8:40 p.m., the police arrested a man suspected of death threats when they were attacked and insulted by a group of young people.
A 16-year-old is arrested.
Second episode, around 11 p.m., avenue Paul-Cézanne, the police van is attacked by about forty people who project a dozen mortar shots and fireworks on the officials.
The attackers are dispersed with tear gas canisters.
In the Essonne for four days, the scenes of violence multiply in Corbeil, Juvisy and reach Évry.
The Alliance de l'Essonne delegate, Claude Carillo, shares the same demands as his colleague from the Yvelines.
"We demand the generalization of these outfits since October 2016 after the tragedy of Viry-Châtillon, where four police officers were seriously burned in their car by Molotov cocktails", underlines the trade unionist who denounces the slowness of the administration on this file.
Equipment still in the process of being manufactured
In Paris and in the inner suburbs, which depends on the police headquarters, the situation is the same and the unions are making the same demands. "In the capital, we come up against an image problem above all because these outfits are combinations of law and order and immediately give an offensive look to the staff," says a Parisian police officer. And management wants the emergency police to keep a less warlike aspect. "
For his part, the director of public security, Jean-Marie Salanova explains that there are logistical problems to be solved because the outfits are being manufactured. According to the director, they should arrive early next year. “The first to be equipped will be the CRS because they are in contact with the demonstrators. And then the public security officials who intervene in difficult neighborhoods. Their colleagues from the police headquarters should also benefit from this equipment during their missions in the cities.