Paris (AFP)
Blue beacons lit, screaming sirens: a few hundred police gathered on Sunday evening in Paris on the Trocadero esplanade to protest the latest government announcements a few hours after Emmanuel Macron's speech.
"We are not at all reassured by the speech tonight, on the contrary. We, what we want is concrete and above all we want the Minister of the Interior to backtrack" on the announcements of Monday, told AFP a police officer who came with two teammates but who wishes to remain anonymous.
"Being let go by your boss is still terrible! It feels like the street is in control and we feel completely abandoned," added another policewoman in uniform who also wished , remain anonymous. She says she is ready to come back every evening "if necessary".
Several police officers put their handcuffs on the ground in protest despite declarations a few hours earlier by the President of the Republic who assured that the police and gendarmes "deserve the support of the public authorities and the recognition of the Nation".
"Without a republican order, there is neither security nor freedom," declared the President of the Republic, "this order is guaranteed by the police and gendarmes on our soil." "They are exposed to daily risks on our behalf," he said.
The Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, received Friday the police unions very reassembled since his announcements Monday, in particular on the end of the use of the technique of arrest called "strangulation".
Before the unionists, Christophe Castaner had also recognized "bullshit", "a blunder" of language when he announced Monday the suspension of any official in the event of "proven suspicion" of racism according to the unionists.
The Alliance union requests to be received by the President of the Republic and awaits "strong acts", ensuring "to maintain the mobilizations".
© 2020 AFP