Paris (AFP)

Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo and elected Parisians had a lively exchange with the police chief Didier Lallement, criticized for its management of demonstrations and lack of consultation during the Paris council Wednesday.

"The supervision of the demonstrations", the "relations with the elected Parisians", the number of policemen in the streets of the capital were pointed out by the socialist elected, also senator, Marie-Pierre de La Gontrie, during the current affairs session.

During the demonstrations on Saturday, September 21, "testimonies reported family with children caught in traps, without being able to extract and tear gas grenades," reported the elected, enjoining the prefect to "enlighten (the elected ) on the proportionality of the police ".

"This seems to me somewhat disproportionate," added Anne Hidalgo, saying that "there was no fear of riots cyclists or families," present in the procession.

In response to criticism, Lallement explained that he had been working "for months" to "pull the city out of the spiral of violence and destruction that had been wreaking havoc for months" detestable of Paris ".

And "we have fulfilled our mission," he said, promising to provide elected officials with the latest figures of crime in Paris.

For the prefect of police, "the demonstrations were prevented by people who want to degrade", and "the deployment of police forces" was necessary "because there were threats", in reference to the demonstrators belonging to the violent fringes of the ultragauche and "yellow vests".

"On December 8, 2018, there were 1,000 LBDs fired during the demonstrations, and on September 21 there were seven LBD shots, seven more shots but seven more shots," he said.

Another quack: the decision of the prefect to close several subway stations Sunday, September 22, during the Heritage Day and the 5th edition of "Paris without a car", without notifying elected officials or City Hall.

"We wondered what was going on," Hidalgo said ironically, hoping that "for Saturday's All-Nighter (5 October), the metro stations are not closed."

The prefect "conceded that the town hall had not been informed in the right time, nor at the right level," said a source at the prefecture, while recalling that usually, the pedestrianization of the Champs-Elysees led de facto closing of some metro stations.

This Sunday, their number has increased because of the establishment of a security perimeter around the Élysée.

The same source regrets that "since June, all the bilateral meetings, supposed to take place every six weeks, have been canceled at the initiative of the mayor": "We are in the will of dialogue and there are spaces that exist but it would be necessary that the mayor participates there ".

© 2019 AFP