Paris (AFP)
The mayor of Paris and candidate for her re-election Anne Hidalgo called on Wednesday, faced with police violence, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner to "look at what is happening today at the police headquarters" and to return to the " Grimaud doctrine "of maintaining order.
Asked about France Inter to find out if she was asking for the resignation of the Paris police prefect Didier Lallement, whom several political leaders demanded after, in particular, the dissemination of a video showing a policeman hitting a protester on the ground, Ms. Hidalgo replied that she "do not ask for sanctions".
But "it is absolutely essential that the Paris police prefect revert to the Grimaud doctrine, the prefect of 1968, who was one of the thinkers of the doctrine in the field of policing, that is to say allowing 'free expression of all demonstrations, and avoid the death or injury of people.'
"The minister should take a closer look at what is happening today at the police headquarters," she added.
Prefect of the Paris police during the events of May 1968, the name of Maurice Grimaud remains attached to his management of the maintenance of order which had made it possible to prevent the clashes from causing deaths. In particular, he then wrote a letter to the police in which he stressed that "hitting a protester who has fallen to the ground is hitting yourself by appearing in a light that affects all of the police function."
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