Pension reform: 17 investigations opened at the IGPN since the beginning of the demonstrations

Europe 1 with AFP 16:35 p.m., March 27, 2023

The General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) has been seized of 17 judicial investigations since the first national day of mobilization against the pension reform in January, said Sunday its director. "Since January 19 (...) we have had 17 legal proceedings," Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre said on BFMTV, adding that "this figure is by definition evolving". On Friday, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin revealed that eleven IGPN investigations had opened "for a week".

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The BRAV-M singled out

This therefore signals a recent acceleration of referrals, especially since March 16 and the beginning of wild demonstrations in Paris and several regions, in reaction to the use of Article 49-3 of the Constitution to adopt the reform. "There has been a change in nature, particularly radicalized individuals who were not on the first national days of action," argued the head of the IGPN. "De facto, this change of nature, this change of atmosphere, this radicalization, we find it in our referrals," added the magistrate training.

Regarding the threatening and humiliating remarks of police officers, attributed to members of the decried unit of the BRAV-M, towards young demonstrators and revealed in an audio recording, Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre said she was "as a citizen, terribly shocked". "These abuses are destructive for the institution National Police" and "casts opprobrium on all other services and police officers on the ground who are exemplary," she regretted. An administrative investigation, on referral of the prefect of police Laurent Nuñez, and a judicial investigation, after a report sent Saturday to the Paris prosecutor's office, were opened to the IGPN on this case.