Le Figaro Nice
In Nice, the national police refuse to bow down. Two pills do not pass. There is, of course, the incarceration of their colleague from Marseille, who was placed in pre-trial detention on 21 July in a case of violence committed during an evening of riots. But this would be to forget the decision at the end of last week of the Nice justice to reclassify an attempted voluntary homicide on a police officer in "violence" and "refusal to comply". One affront too many. If they do not have the right to demonstrate, nothing prevents the police from gathering. Wednesday noon, they were a hundred to have made an appointment symbolically in front of the central police station of Nice, the austere barracks Auvare. A movement initiated by the agents of the investigation services and supported by the police union Unité SGP.
"I don't want to put everyone in the same basket, let's be clear. But today there is a part of the judiciary that hates the police, "scolds Laurent Martin de Fremont, the departmental delegate of the union in the Alpes-Maritimes. Blue T-shirt and cap on his head, the trade unionist is tired of fighting against a system that would hear nothing. "It's been fifteen years that we repeat the same things and make fun of us. If justice does not reinvent itself with the police, it will end badly!" he insists. For him, the police are only a "variable of political adjustment". "Enough is enough!" he teases again. "We ask for more consideration. Without us, the country no longer turns. Marseille was a detonator," says another agent, with the acquiescence of some colleagues.
In Nice, one in four police officers is now on sick leave, out of solidarity. "Beyond the support, some agents are really at the end of their rope. If they had not stopped they would have done a, "blows an official. And Laurent Martin de Fremont to bounce back: "It's true, Psychically it's going very badly. Everything is going into a tailspin in our profession. I'm more worried than usual," he laments. Before, we wondered if we were going to be killed on a mission. Now we wonder if we will not end the day in prison." And if he loves his job, he advises "young people not to get involved."
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"The police don't go hunting anymore! No initiative, no ticket. We're waiting for it to happen."
A policeman in Nice.
Some of the police officers still on duty apply the "code 562". A codified waiting position that allows them to do nothing but respond to police rescue missions. "The police don't go hunting anymore! No initiative, no ticket. We're waiting for it to happen," said David, an officer at the rally. As of Tuesday, of the 39 patrols available in the city, only two were operational. "It's not that easy to act with the 562. I am thinking in particular of victims who come to file a complaint but who cannot be registered for lack of manpower, observes another police officer. But that's the way it is, we didn't provoke anything." For the past two days, the Saint-Augustin police station has been closed due to lack of staff. And the situation is not much better at the Ariane police station.
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The spokesperson of Unité SGP nevertheless welcomes the mobilization of Nice agents. "It's unique in France," he said as a wave of applause spread outside the barracks. The women and men present break ranks, head to the offices for some, the home for others.