Paris (AFP)

Three of the main police unions protested Thursday against AFP against the choice of Emmanuel Macron to pose with a t-shirt denouncing police violence, saying that the presidential gesture was "scandalous".

"There is a lot of anger and incomprehension. It does not pass at all in the ranks," reacted Yves Lefebvre, secretary general of the Unit-SGP-FO.

For him, the "selfie" of the head of state is "a mark of distrust and contempt for those who allowed him to be still president" thanks to their actions to maintain order "of December 1, 2018 and March 2019, when the Republic faltered "during the Yellow Vests crisis," he added.

"We expect something else from a president. It is scandalous. We wonder if there are communications advisers at the Elysée Palace," he continued.

Fabien Vanhemelryck, secretary general of Alliance, also expressed the anger of the police: "We expect something else from a President of the Republic who he poses with a t-shirt insinuating that the police are spoiling the people".

"The problem is not the t-shirt, which by the way, in any case, we do not endorse but it was not the debate in this case!", Explained Mr. Vanhemelryck. "Freedom of expression should not be a pretext. The fact that the president poses with this t-shirt (...) is shocking," he said.

For him, "this signal" is "what is worse in the current context of chaos, at a time when the police and the gendarmerie are the last ramparts of the Republic".

This photo of the President of the Republic "holding in hand an LBD 2020 t-shirt with a character with a punctured eye poses question", responded Philippe Capon, secretary general of the Unsa Police.

He "regretted that the president added to it in a polemical position on an important subject where irony and derision had no place".

Mr. Capon "recalled that demonstrations have never been more numerous since May 2017, the date of the election of President Emmanuel Macron as head of the country". "The police have unfortunately spent more time maintaining order than devoting themselves to the safety of the French," he concluded.

Emmanuel Macron surprised Thursday by posing with a t-shirt denouncing police violence, offered by the designer Jul, at the Angoulême comic book festival.

The t-shirt represents a Fawn (the award awarded to Angoulême, editor's note). Under the drawing is written: "LBD 2020", reference to the defense ball launcher (LBD) and to the acronym chosen for the year of the comic strip (BD 2020).

© 2020 AFP