"Yellow Vests": Can we "file" violent protesters?

How to fight against the "breakers" on the sidelines of the demonstrations? Far from being new, the problem has already arisen during the mobilization against the Labor law, in 2016. It reappears on the occasion of the mobilization of "yellow vests", enamelled, since mid-November, of violence of which the images go around the world. Arc de Triomphe tagged, vandalized neighborhoods of Paris, injured protesters ... During "Act 8", which gathered some 50,000 people Saturday, individuals managed, by smashing the door with a construction machine, to enter the Speaker of the Ministry of Government Spokesman Benjamin Griveaux, who had to be exfiltrated. Journalists were also physically attacked, particularly in Rouen. "In the face of the unacceptable violence that continues on the territory, the government intends to display a very strong firmness and to evolve its device of public order", announced the Philippe Philippe's office, Monday. In the evening, the Prime Minister should make announcements. But which ones? Union and political voices have been rising since Sunday in favor of the creation of a "file of thugs". Europe 1 decrypts this proposal.

How could such a system be put in place?

The Alliance union, at the origin of the proposal, refers to "a file of violent individuals during demonstrations", which would then be banned in the processions, "on the model of stadium bans." The law provides for measures to prevent violence during sports events, including football matches: any person considered as "likely to disturb the public order", because of his behavior or his membership of a group of supporters dissolved by the prefecture, for example, may be banned administratively stage, "even if it has never been sentenced by the courts," says the website of the Ministry of the Interior. In concrete terms, this system makes it possible to force these persons to go to a police or gendarmerie summons at the time of the matches which are forbidden to them, in order to make sure that they do not attend. Alliance relies on a transposition of this system to individuals identified as potential "breakers". "These individuals would be known, forced to go point (..) or to be placed under house arrest," explained Sunday to Franceinfo Frederic Lagache, secretary general of the majority union. "This would also allow our colleagues who carry out identity checks around the events to identify them as soon as they are in this file."

Who would be registered?

"Today, we have a recurring problem in the demonstrations of 'yellow vests': people who are thugs are always the same, far left or far right, who come and let off steam," says Europe 1 Patrice Ribeiro, secretary general of Synergie-Officiers, also favorable to the setting up of such a file. How to register them? Thanks "on the one hand, to the intelligence services, who know who are the extremists of right or left, who are the specialists of the case", answers the shop steward. "And for the others, on the basis of convictions, with as an accessory penalty or in the main sentence prohibitions to appear or obligations to point to the police station."

Who is in favor?

The police unions demanding this measure have received the support of the new Delegate General of the Republic in motion, Stanislas Guerini. "You have to ask for all the arsenal of solutions, including security, we can have a file to identify the thugs (...) and forbid them to demonstrate," he said on Cnews, saying that is a track that must be dug ". The measure was also raised by Secretary of State for the Interior Laurent Nuñez.

At the Parisian , other unions of peacekeepers express on the contrary their reservations about the establishment of such a file. Alternative Police-CFDT tip as well as the demonstrations of "yellow vests" are mostly undeclared, making it impossible to anticipate the dates of scoring. "Many violent protesters arrested recently were first-time delinquents, who had not been noticed before," notes also Jean-Marc Bailleul, Secretary General of the union of cadres of internal security-CFDT.

What is the difference with existing files?

"What they (supporters of a new file, ed ) advocate is a subfile, because the file S, for example, already brings together all those who are likely to cause a disturbance to public order", believes criminal lawyer Fabien Marsat, interviewed by Franceinfo. "We must not forget that these acts are committed by people who are free," said the council, doubting the feasibility of further preventive scoring measures. "You can always take all the possible steps, except take into account that everyone can be, today and tomorrow, a delinquent, I do not see how we can do."

Just a little thread on the "file of the thugs" or "file of the violent people", proposed by @alliancepolice and @StanGuerini. Since 2014, the territorial intelligence has a file called "Prevention of attacks against public security" (PASP).

On Twitter, several journalists point out, they, the existence of a file similar to that claimed by Alliance, called FPASP (File of prevention of breaches public security). Created in 2014, it "identifies individuals who have reported violent or threatening behavior in the context of intelligence missions," according to the website of the Ministry of the Interior. According to a public report of the national referent published in 2018, 43,446 people, including 2,579 minors were registered in November 2017. "Cards are created by the local intelligence services, which directly insert the data into the file", indicates the same source. Among the reasons for registration are participation in "illegal protest actions", or "gang violence".