From Lille to Marseille, hundreds of municipal police officers made themselves heard on Saturday blowing whistles during rallies throughout France, to demand better recognition and no longer be considered
“sub-police”
.
Katia Boudin, 45, police officer in Salon-de-Provence, was in the Marseille rally
“to have recognition, in the same way as the firefighters or the national police”
:
“Because we go into contact with the population and we take the same risks
,” she explained to AFP.
“Since 1999, we have not experienced any change in status and we see the town hall secretary move to category B while we are still in C
,” she said, among the approximately 500 demonstrators identified by the police Department.
In Paris, there were 400, according to the police headquarters, walking from Place de la République to City Hall.
Many wore yellow “municipal police”
vests
sometimes crossed out with the inscription
“on strike”
or
“angry”
.
The Parisian procession.
THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
“We demand status”
“Show your anger”
, encouraged one of the representatives of the inter-union on the microphone:
“It is not normal that in 2024 the municipal police will be considered as a sub-police”
.
“We are demanding a status for municipal police officers, with a retirement worthy of the name, but also a real status for ASVPs (Editor's note: public highway surveillance agent)
,” demanded for his part Bertrand Debeaux, national FO PM representative. from Lyon, where around a hundred agents were gathered.
Read alsoIn Paris, motorists favorite target of the municipal police
“We are often the first responders. In Nice, the police officer who put an end to the killing (Editor's note: at the Notre Dame de l'Assomption basilica, where on October 29, 2020 an undocumented Tunisian national stabbed three people), it was a municipal police officer who was armed »
, recalled Jérôme Cellier, member of the office of the departmental association of municipal police officers from Gironde to Bordeaux (200 police officers mobilized).
The Bordeaux procession.
THIBAUD MORITZ / AFP
“What ignited the powder were the announcements by Elisabeth Borne (former Prime Minister) after the riots last summer: she spoke of broadening the skills and prerogatives of municipal police officers, but without that this is accompanied by additional recognition
,” analyzed Thiebault Parré, 46 years old, half of whom are in the municipal police force, present at the gathering in Strasbourg among some 160 agents.
“Stop the contempt”
“We are the police forces who remain at the lowest of the retirement grids
,” continued Anne-Claire Cagninacci, 51, police officer in Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle).
“We are impatiently awaiting the meeting at the ministry on February 13”
and if
“nothing is resolved, there will be strike movements which will be followed, because we have been waiting for these negotiations for more than 20 years »
warned Nicolas Romero in Toulouse, where there were 150 according to the prefecture, between 200 and 300 according to FO.
In Lille, the rally brought together 150 people with signs asking for example
“stop the contempt”
.
Their shrill whistles covered the speeches of another rally organized in front of the Northern prefecture, in tribute to a baby who died of carbon monoxide poisoning, causing some tension.
Finally, in Rennes, there were 120 according to the prefecture, and around forty in Orléans.