Faced with the anger aroused by the death of a police officer in Avignon, fifteen days after the attack on Rambouillet, the government wants to show its firmness in terms of security.

The government's objective is not to lend too much flank to the criticisms that could emanate from the right, one year before the presidential election.

ANALYSIS

While the man who shot Eric M. in Avignon is still on the run, the death of this sergeant, after that of a police officer in Rambouillet two weeks ago, caused commotion and anger in the ranks of the forces of the order.

The unions called for a citizens' march on May 19 in Paris and suspended their participation in the Beauvau de la sécurité.

For his part, the Minister of the Interior displayed a firm speech, in order not to leave too much space for criticism from the opposition, in particular from the right.

"The results are there" according to Darmanin

The priority for the government is first to try to show that its policy brings concrete answers to the insecurity and unrivaled unrest in the police.

"The President of the Republic asked us to be extremely firm. The results are there," said Gerald Darmanin traveling in the Alpes de Haute-Provence on Friday.

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A very complicated message to get across, while these various facts are multiplying.

"The hyper-presence of the police and the gendarmes creates instability among the traffickers, they respond to it. And I believe that the drama in Avignon is one of these responses, that the traffickers will not win and that the police and the gendarmes who are in mourning will have the means to continue to fight against this trafficking, "added the Minister.

"Drug trafficking is really the mother of battles against delinquency. It is the one that causes burglaries, assaults on public roads, deaths on the road."

Darmanin, Dupond-Moretti and Castex on the front line

Before his trip, Gérald Darmanin gave an interview in the same tone to the newspaper 

Le Figaro.

E

ric Dupond Moretti, the Minister of Justice, also multiplies martial statements in the press.

The stakes are so important that Prime Minister Jean Castex now reacts systematically as soon as the police are attacked.

The objective is to prevent the right from taking too much space in the public debate, to attack the government.

He understood that the issue of insecurity and ultra-violence could be seen as an Achilles heel.

Following the tragedy in Avignon, the right-wing opposition is indeed asking for a tougher sentence and the pressure is heavier on the government.

Xavier Bertrand thus fired red balls on Emmanuel Macron, in particular on insecurity and "uncontrolled immigration". "A charge that left traces", according to the admission of an adviser to the executive, who recognizes that the sequence is very bad. The President declared to

Le Figaro

on April 18: "I am fighting for the right to a peaceful life." A sentence which, today, could hurt him very politically.