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President Emmanuel Macron in Pau on January 14, 2020. REUTERS / Georges Gobet

Emmanuel Macron urged Tuesday 15 January the Interior to quickly make " proposals to improve the ethics " of the police accused of violence. Earlier, Christophe Castaner had called the police to "set an example ".

For the Head of State, there is an urgency in the face of " unacceptable behavior [that] has been or seen or pointed out ", because it can " achieve the credibility and dignity " of the police. " There must be no complacency, " he said in Pau, while deploring " the violence and political nihilism " that some protesters say.

I expect, from our police and gendarmes, the greatest ethics. I asked the Minister of the Interior to make very concrete proposals to me on this.

Emmanuel Macron speaks on police violence 01/15/2020 Listen

At the Ministry of the Interior, it is pointed out that " already initiated several works on ethics and control ", with in particular the future " national scheme of policing whose conclusions must be completed in a few weeks ". " We will see what needs to be improved, from training to intervention techniques ," added one.

Before President Macron, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner had already mentioned on January 13 the duty of exemplarity of the police after paying tribute to the police injured in the exercise of their functions.

I am aware of the work of our police officers.
Nothing they have accomplished, sometimes endured, in recent months.
It is also my responsibility to call them to set an example, in all circumstances.
The honor of the police is at stake. Pic.twitter.com/jv6wzaqVE2

Christophe Castaner (@CCastaner) January 13, 2020

Sign of " feverishness " for police unions

At the Synergies-Officers union, the reaction to the presidential statement is bitter. “ We have the feeling of being the stuffing turkeys. We defended the Republic and the political is in the process of cowardly us , ”said his secretary general Patrice Ribeiro to AFP. For Mr. Ribeiro, " the government today is showing a feverishness vis-à-vis social networks ".

► Also read: In France, six police officers in police custody on charges of violence

On the side of the first union of police commissioners (SCPN-Unsa), the tone, however, is conciliatory. “ You have to know how to recognize that there are things that are not right. In the demonstrations, we saw inappropriate gestures: tripping over Toulouse hurts everyone , "commented David le Bars, referring to a video showing a policeman tripping over a protester in Toulouse. A sequence to which the Minister of the Interior had alluded. sequence. " We do not set foot on ethics, except to lower ourselves, to lower the police, " said Christophe Castaner.

This image and others captured during demonstrations against the pension reform project have provoked a new wave of accusations against police violence, already denounced during the crisis of "yellow vests". They are added to the death in Paris on January 3 of Cédric Chouviat, a delivery man of 42 years, after his arrest by the police.

►Read also: In France, suffocation causing the death of a delivery man arrested in Paris

(With AFP)