The techniques of maintaining order and arrest in Sainte-Soline are still under fire from critics. The anti-basin demonstration which took place on March 25 was the scene of violent clashes between the police and the demonstrators, and ended with two people in a coma on the protest side, one of whom is still between life and death, and 61 gendarmes injured, according to Gérald Darmanin.
Among the people arrested present in Sainte-Soline, two were arrested by the authorities well after the demonstration, the Niort prosecutor’s office announced on March 27, “following the discovery of a coding marking product”. A technique that had already appeared during the movement of “yellow vests”.
What happened in Sainte-Soline?
One of the two people arrested thanks to these coded marking products (PMC) is a journalist. He was placed in police custody for 28 hours on the basis of these striking products following a police check on March 26, the day after the demonstration. He entrusted to French Culture passed through a light detector. The use of PMCs in Sainte-Soline had also been noted by the human rights league (LDH), which referred to the use of “at least one rifle with a marking product type”.
“This device was used in a limited way in Sainte-Soline in the sector where the gendarmes were the target of the most serious violence. It gave rise to the opening of judicial inquiries carried out under the direction and control of a magistrate, ”confirmed the gendarmerie.
What are these marking products?
PMCs are substances described as odorless, colorless and non-toxic, to identify people present during this demonstration against an artificial water reservoir which degenerated on March 25. “By “invisible” it is understood that the coded marking products are undetectable to the naked eye, develops the site of the Institute for Criminal Research of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN). It is only when revealed under a special lamp, that they emit a characteristic fluorescence detectable in the visible range. »
It is then possible to identify a person weeks later. “The marking can remain on the skin for several weeks, on the hair for six months, and the clothes are marked for life”, explains the Figaro Thierry Vallat, lawyer at the Paris bar.
What are these PMCs used for?
For professionals and individuals, these products are used in particular in the fight against counterfeits or damage to property such as during burglaries. In the context of maintaining order, it was Edouard Philippe and Christophe Castaner who developed its use. A first experiment would have been developed during the demonstrations of May 1, 2018, reported The Express.
Then, in March 2019, in the midst of the “yellow vests” crisis, the Prime Minister at the time officially announced the forthcoming use of “coded markings” during demonstrations. The “transparent marker means that a few weeks later, if the investigation leads to the conclusion that it is you who are responsible, that you are arrested, we will find traces”, then specified the Minister of the Interior. After this announcement by the government of the time, however, no actual use had been reported.
Why is their use causing controversy?
For the lawyer of the journalist arrested the day after the rally in Sainte-Soline, Me Chloé Chalot, this device “obviously raises questions about individual freedoms and the identification of political opponents to a project”. Me Chalot said she was “worried” about a tool allowing the police to “subsequently identify participants in a freedom of expression movement”. “What do we do with this data, is there a file? Are we starting to label people? she wondered.
“There is a great opacity on the subject. I call on the police to be more transparent. We don’t know what products are used or how they are used,” added CheckNews this time lawyer Thierry Vallat. Moreover, as pointed out West France, the marking is not very precise and can therefore affect people who have no connection with the violence. Chloé Chalot thus assures that her client had “not taken part in the clashes. »