“Dispersion of the demonstration at 6 p.m.”, “Stations rue La Fayette + Department stores + Rue Halévy CLOSED.
» « Lines 7 and 9 open via accesses boulevard Haussmann, rue de la Chaussée d'Antin.
These indications from the Paris police headquarters (PP) parade, this Thursday afternoon, on a massive luminous panel, installed at the corner of rue Halévy and boulevard Haussmann (Paris IX).
Either at the very end of the course of the demonstration of the unions to demand a revaluation of wages, which beat the pavement between the place of the Republic and the Chaussée d'Antin - La Fayette.
This variable message sign (PMV) in white steel weighing 1.6 tonnes is a brand new device set up by the Modernization and Strategy Service (SMS) of the Department of Public Order and Traffic (DOPC ).
Inspired by the German model, this first prototype is intended to “streamline communication between law enforcement and demonstrators, as required by the national law enforcement plan (SNMO).
It comes in addition to the work in the field of the ELI [the liaison and information teams, police mediators, editor's note] ”, summarizes the comptroller general Éric Moyse, deputy director of public order at the DOPC.
Paris IX, March 17, 2022. This luminous panel is being tested by the DOPC, to make communication between the police and demonstrators more fluid in processions.
LP/Caroline Piquet
For the time being, it is essentially practical information that follows one another: dispersal schedules, prohibitions or reminders of open or closed metro entrances.
But in the long term, any warnings before dispersal could be mentioned there.
"The messages are destined to be directly controlled by the command room", specifies the divisional commander Ludovic Thoreau, head of the SMS.
Under the giant screen, a very powerful loudspeaker has been installed, "to allow the civil authority to pass messages, such as calls for dispersal", he adds.
"It's a bit:
move on, there's nothing to see
“, grumbles at the end of the procession an activist of the CGT Educ’action, one of the rare demonstrators to have spotted the panel.
On the white foot of the screen, near the police prefecture acronym, an anti-police tag and a “Sud Solidaires” sticker have already been affixed.
