Policing: a battle between Darmanin and left-wing parliamentarians

Europe 1 with AFP 18:17 p.m., April 05, 2023

The exchanges between the parliamentarians of the left and Gerald Darmanin, accused of "minister of the baton", turned into a pass of arms Wednesday in the National Assembly and the Senate, where the latter again attributed to the "ultra-left" a responsibility for the violence during the demonstrations. The Minister of the Interior was invited to explain to the deputies, then the senators of the Law Commission, on the use of force by the police and gendarmes during demonstrations against the pension reform or in Sainte-Soline in the Deux-Sèvres.

>> READ ALSO – Violence in Sainte-Soline: "Weapons of war were used yes, but by the thugs," insists Gérald Darmanin

Darmanin projected images of violence "against the police"

Figures on weapons seized, photos of attacks on public buildings, videos of police officers attacked: the minister began his hearings with a long presentation, projecting several slides. So much evidence of "extreme violence against the police," he said, citing the examples of recent clashes in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux or Lorient.

It is "a hearing 'Paris-Match', the weight of words, the shock of photos," denounced the ecologist deputy Benjamin Lucas, mocking "a nice PowerPoint McKinsey way", the consulting firm at the heart of several investigations concerning the presidential campaigns of Emmanuel Macron. The heaviest burden came from the Insoumise Thomas Portes who described Gérald Darmanin as "minister of the baton". "Will it take a new Malik Oussekine to finally make you come to your senses?" he asked, referring to the young man who died under the blows of police on a motorcycle in 1986.

"Very strong mobilization of the ultra-left"

Gérald Darmanin also revealed notes of territorial intelligence evoking a "very strong mobilization of the ultra-left" came "to infiltrate the social movement and take the lead". "If I was provocative, I would say they wanted to take (him) hostage," he said. "We are trying to break with a form of cowardice or complacency that there has been with the ultra-left," he said later in the Senate.

Since March 16 and the beginning of tensions in the demonstrations after the use of 49.3 to adopt the pension reform, 1,851 people have been arrested, 299 attacks against public institutions (prefectures, town halls ...) and 132 attacks on parliamentary offices have been recorded, he listed. A total of 2,500 fires on public roads, 58 vehicles and 13 burned buildings, were also counted.

A petition on the dissolution of the Brav-M closed

These hearings came as the Assembly's Law Committee on Wednesday closed a petition, signed by nearly 264,000 people, for the dissolution of the Brav-M, a motorcycle police brigade criticized for its use of violence in demonstrations. In addition, the Council of State refused Wednesday to impose on the Ministry of the Interior to act to make effective the obligation for the police to wear their identification number in intervention (RIO).

>> READ ALSO – Sainte-Soline: "When we make demonstrations, we are responsible for what happens there," judge Darmanin

Unsurprisingly, Gérald Darmanin has once again given his support to the police, despite criticism from the Defender of Rights, the Council of Europe or the UN Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders. "The police and gendarmes are only responding to people who are violent (...)," Darmanin said. In Sainte-Soline, 47 gendarmes were wounded, according to authorities. Organizers reported 200 injured among the demonstrators, 40 of them seriously. One of them was still Tuesday between life and death.

LDH controversy

PS Senator Marie-Pierre de La Gontrie criticized Gérald Darmanin for his recent statements on the "intellectual terrorism of the far left". "You shouldn't use the term terrorism a bit quickly," she said. "You are not the police of words," retorted Gérald Darmanin. Rather than "throwing to the dogs" police and gendarmes, "spend a day with the Brav-M," he said.

In response to an intervention by Senator LR François Bonhomme, who called for "to stop financing associations that seriously challenge the State", the minister said about the League of Human Rights (LDH), that "the subsidy given by the State" "deserves to be looked at as part of the actions that have been carried out".

"Mr. Darmanin, 'the actions that have been carried out' by the LDH for more than 120 years are the defense of the rights and freedoms of all, no offense," replied the LDH in a tweet. "This time, you cross the Rubicon and leave the Republican space for good," said Green MP Aurélien Taché. Sandrine Rousseau (EELV) expressed on Twitter her "unwavering support" to the association "and its work".