Every morning, Nicolas Beytout analyzes political news and gives us his opinion. This Wednesday, he is interested in sovereign issues such as the security that Emmanuel Macron must now face.
Repeated clashes in Dijon and demonstrations that go wrong in Paris. Is the post-containment climate degenerating?
Yes, even if, of course, it should be noted that this violence has nothing to do with each other. In Dijon, it is primarily a matter of communities, rival bands and control of a territory. Obviously, containment has raised tensions, if only by depriving, there as elsewhere, the dealers of their petty little trade. On another front, the return of demonstrations (more than 200 this Tuesday throughout France) brought out the thugs, who fell on the processions a bit like smallpox on the lower clergy. They found their favorite confrontation ground with the police. It had started with the illegal demonstrations of the Traore committee, in front of the Palais de Justice in Paris and then in the Republic, and it got worse yesterday on the sidelines of the gatherings of white coats who were demonstrating in defense of the hospital.
Once again, the police are on the front line in law enforcement operations.
It's been a bit of a hellish circle for two years: the Yellow Vests, the May Day demonstrations and the takeover by Black Blocs, the repeated demonstrations during the pension reform, it's a cycle that does not not stop, which is added to the rise in daily violence and "ordinary" delinquency. And which partly seems to escape the police. The alarm signal had been drawn by Gérard Collomb, in his memorable farewell speech to his ministry, in early October 2018: speaking of difficult neighborhoods, the former interior minister had warned that "the law of the strongest imposes itself there, that of drug traffickers, radical Islamists, which has taken the place of the Republic. "
And since ?
Nothing has changed since then. This is the major weakness of Emmanuel Macron's policy. Both in terms of ideas: it is a subject about which he speaks little. And in terms of men: there is a Castaner problem; the minister was already known for his untimely declarations and his numerous back pedaling. But the soap of these last days leaves speechless. His notion of "proven suspicion of racism" in the police, then the prohibition of strangulation were so strongly denounced by his troops that he was forced, pitifully, to back off. Without improving its relations with the police. There is a Castaner problem, and this affects the head of state.
Does the President not wait for the reshuffle in July to decide the question?
Yes, it is likely. And if this allows his next government to restore confidence with the police, then it will be an important step in restoring the link with them. But that will not be enough for the Head of State to claim a real record in the matter. However, this is a sensitive point for a large part of his electorate. And it is the only niche in which the right, reputed to be more credible on sovereign subjects, can attack it effectively. She will not deny it.