Four organizations of magistrates, lawyers and human rights defenders announced on Wednesday that they had lodged an urgent appeal before the Council of State to make effective the obligation imposed on the police to carry their identification number in intervention.
These organizations (the League of Human Rights, the Syndicate of Lawyers of France, the Syndicate of the Judiciary and the Action of Christians Against Torture) had already filed a classic appeal in September, which is still under investigation. .
"Urgent matter"
But they believe that "
the question has become urgent with regard to the management of the maintenance of order
" in the context of the mobilization against the pension reform, they say in their request, consulted by AFP.
The case will be heard in open court on Monday morning.
Since 2014, police officers and gendarmes must wear an individual identification number called RIO (repository of identities and organization) on their uniform, allowing them to find an official in the event of a slip-up.
In practice, this obligation is far from generalized, for example during law enforcement operations.
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In their request, the organizations argue that the "
unjustified
" or "
disproportionate
" use of force has been observed and documented "
on many occasions
" during demonstrations and rallies - declared or not - against the pension reform.
It was also "
noted
" during this social movement that "
police officers do not wear their RIO in general
", they say.
"
There are attacks on the freedom to demonstrate, and a systematic use of force, often without control of the possible agent, because without the possibility of identifying him
", estimates Thibaut Spriet, national secretary at the Syndicat de la magistrature ( listed on the left).
Some police officers find
the obligation to wear their RIO "
stigmatising ".
This seven-digit number stemmed from a campaign promise by François Hollande in 2012 to fight against racial profiling.