Paris (AFP)

Redoubled target of criticism and calls for resignation as he embodies police violence for part of the public and the left, the Paris police prefect Didier Lallement appears as an uncompromising and authoritarian senior official, who assumes his unpopularity.

A prefect "with psychopathic methods", according to Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI), "a berserk", according to a seasoned police officer ...: nicknames, each sharper than the next, Didier Lallement collects them, without let it not affect him.

Nor are the calls for resignation.

"One depicts him as awful, he has nothing to type. He even sees it as a form of recognition of his authority," told AFP one of those who knew him well.

When in March 2019, after the dismissal of Michel Delpuech deemed too lax, he took the head of the Paris police prefecture (PP), his reputation as a "strong man", as prefect of New Aquitaine, had preceded.

In Bordeaux, some had slashed the champagne on the announcement of his departure for the capital.

Didier Lallement owes a lot to Jean-Pierre Chevènement, who gave him a prefect's cap in 2000. He had joined him in his youth within Ceres, a former current of the PS.

"The Republic", "the service of the State", "firmness" are its totems.

He has a particular fascination for military matters, memorable battles, the Napoleonic epic ..... He is particularly fond of the Foreign Legion - he is an honorary member - of which he proudly wears the badge on his uniform .

The choice to appoint Didier Lallement to the PP is that of President Emmanuel Macron.

Its mission: to apply a new law enforcement strategy after the atrocities of December 1, 2018 in Paris during act 3 of the "yellow vests".

The objective: to get in contact with the demonstrators to avoid damage, even if it means taking on violent clashes.

"Your hand should not tremble," Christophe Castaner, then Minister of the Interior, asked him.

A year and a half later, Didier Lallement has not wavered.

- "Strategist" -

Born in August 1956 in Lyon, this history buff has a physique recognizable among a thousand: sharp face, blue eyes, slight smile at the corner of his lips, elongated silhouette and white hair separated by a thin parting in the middle.

"He is not a comic, but a follower of humor in the second degree", says of him a former minister.

All those who knew him, relatives, former ministers, civil servants, trade unionists interviewed by AFP, describe him as "very determined", "hard worker", "a strategist of the State".

They also portray him as "hard on others and hard on himself."

"The requirement that I place in you, I also impose it on myself," he wrote to the police officers under his authority on Friday, on the eve of new protests against police violence and the "global security" law.

"He has a mission, he carries it out" as "a faithful servant of the State", summarizes a relative.

When asked about the calls for his resignation, he brushes off with a wave of his hand: "So what? I would go to the Court of Auditors. I would be paid the same and I would work five times less".

An official of a police union judges that he "has created a character with a shell, but knows how to listen".

"He does not compromise. The advantage is that with him we know what to expect", adds another.

Parisian police prefect was his "Holy Grail", say relatives.

Didier Lallement hardly hides his satisfaction at leading this "State within the State", even if it means being arrogant.

The scene, in November 2019 at Place d'Italie, the day after an eventful demonstration, where he crosses paths with a woman "yellow vests", is symptomatic: "We are not on the same side, madam!", He says .

He later conceded "an awkwardness".

Didier Lallement did not do Ena, but an average business school and his career makes him difficult to classify politically.

Coming in his fifties, he moved closer to the right when he met Dominique Perben in 2002. Perben was then Keeper of the Seals, Lallement, head of the penitentiary.

They appreciate each other and will remain very close.

This son of an executive secretary and a commercial technician had nevertheless discovered ministerial offices with the left in 1988 before entering the Interior in 1997.

He will return to it in 2012 with Manuel Valls, as secretary general.

When Bernard Cazeneuve arrived, the current did not pass.

He went to the Court of Auditors, before being appointed prefect in Bordeaux in 2017.

© 2020 AFP