“
All is well in the best of worlds (or 1984, I don't remember)
”, or even “
I want to retire before the climate collapses
”.
This is the content of the signs that were hung on the railings of the windows of this couple living in the Foirail district, while Emmanuel Macron was expected this Friday, September 30 to inaugurate the new cultural center of the city of Pau.
The inhabitants had installed them around 7 a.m., before the arrival of the Head of State.
An installation that did not please the police.
The CRS armed themselves with a badge to enter the building and a ram to break down the door in case, in order to ask the couple to remove these posters in order to confiscate them, reports the departmental daily
La République des Pyrénées
.
A measure deemed "
scandalous
" for lawyer Michaël Malka, interviewed by
Le Figaro.
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“
The police threatened to break down the door
,” the couple testified to the departmental daily
.
"They said '
if you yell, we'll take you
'."
For Maître Michaël Malka, “
the fact of brandishing a sign with this type of inscription, which does not threaten the person of the president, does not seem to me to constitute an offense.
On the other hand, entering people's homes in this way may even be considered an abuse of authority.
»
Subsequently, the three police officers remained in the apartment of the couple whose identity they identified, until the president entered the center of the Foirail.
"
I'm still at home.
I am the owner
, ”testifies the incredulous resident to
La République des Pyrénées
.
'Totally illegal'
A justified measure, for the departmental director of public security David Book, boss of the police of the department, who evokes "
a very serene climate [between police and inhabitants] after the opening of the door
".
It is "
the protection of the personality of the Head of State
" which motivated the intervention, he specifies, adding "
that from the moment when we have people, who, from their balcony, display hostile slogans, we had to make sure that they had no inclination to attack the Head of State, so close to the place where the President was dropped off.
»
If the exchange was serene thereafter, the action of the police remains "
totally illicit
", insists the lawyer.
"
Preventing people from leaving their homes undermines the freedom to come and go
."
There is also “
an attack on the freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
»
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We must take into account “
the criterion of proportionality in political protests.
What are the external elements that make it possible to suspect a threat to the person of the president?
Here, nothing at all, except for a placard demonstrating freedom of thought.
The lawyer even adds that “
these inhabitants should file a complaint.
“And to conclude:”
we do not respond to words with rams.
»