Is the police still open to criticism in France?

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Francois Mori / AP / SIPA

  • It is an understatement to say that the police did not taste the words of Emmanuel Macron in his interview with Brut this Friday.

    The Head of State spoke of "police violence", "facies checks" and "discrimination".

  • In reaction, the three main police unions called for a control strike and severely criticized the words of the President of the Republic.

  • For Christian Mouhanna, sociologist of police organizations, this new balance of power between the government and the police is cause for concern.

The question of police violence occupied a large place in the interview with Emmanuel Macron in Brut this Friday.

The Head of State ended up uttering the words “police violence” with the end of his lips, even though he indicated that he preferred the term “police violence”, and denounced facies checks and the discrimination of certain guards. of peace, while refuting the idea of ​​systemic racism in the police.

Words that the president tried to measure and each time to qualify.

A caution which was not enough, however: this Saturday, the three main police unions, Alliance Unité SGP police-FO and Unsa police, called for an end to identity checks and denounced "the defiance of the State vis-à-vis the police "and" dubious allusions to the actions of the police ".

Has the police become incriminable?

Christian Mouhanna, sociologist of police organizations, returns for

20 Minutes

on the construction of this impunity.

Can we still criticize the police in France without hurting them?

The police feel that the government needs them to resolve a number of problems and that the balance of power is in their favor.

She is trying to establish a certain form of censorship on criticism of her, whether with article 24 of the "global security" law, but also against any reproach against her.

The slightest criticism, whether it comes from personalities, athletes, journalists or even the President of the Republic, now provokes a massive reaction from the unions.

How did we arrive at this balance of power?

The government has made itself dependent on the police, more and more cases in which it is engaged are settled by police management when it could and should have been managed otherwise.

We will obviously think of "yellow vests", pensions, even the management of the health crisis is now devolved to the police.

Where the government should have escaped by other means, dialogue, negotiation, it systematically opted for the use of the police, who in fact understood that they were essential.

The big turning point in this regard are the demonstrations against the Labor Law, when a left-wing government did not know how to deal with mainly left-wing protesters opposed to a law that was not really left-wing.

This took place just after the Charlie and Bataclan attacks and the State thought that in this kind of astonishment of the population, the people would be too afraid to criticize and go and demonstrate, which was not at all the case.

Confused, the government opted for the police response.

And since that is the only answer considered.

Police officers regularly complain about their condition and the difficulty of their job.

Are they particularly on edge after years of protests?

The police feel rightly or wrongly considered badly and are effectively worn out by a government which uses them as a systematic response to the protest, which has been very present in France in recent years.

But there are loads of exhausted professions and difficult trades, and they are not incriminable either.

We can still criticize doctors, teachers, etc.… And fortunately.

The police unions are directly opposed to the President of the Republic after a rather light speech on his part.

Should we be worried?

Yes, it is moreover quite paradoxical that the police officers ask to respect their authority but openly criticize a certain number of state authorities.

Once again, it is the government that is also putting itself in a compromising position.

For example, on the term "police violence", it is the government alone which has decided to ban it or to criticize this term, setting the bar on a certain level of its own.

So when Emmanuel Macron comes back a little and employs him, it shocks the police.

By caressing the police and going in their direction, the government can no longer afford to criticize the police.

Which raises lots of democratic questions.

How to get back to a more peaceful situation?

There are a lot of things that need to be cleared up asap.

We are now approaching the point of no return.

The police have become radicalized since the Sarkozy years, there are few left-wing police officers, we can clearly see in the polls that there is a large part of the far-right vote… However, the more ballast you have released, the more it's hard to put things back in order.

And far from trying to go back, the government continues to let go of more and more ballast.

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