Critics continue to be heard over police crackdowns on protests against pension reform. A petition to dissolve the BRAV-M exceeded 100,000 citizen signatures in five days on the site of the National Assembly on Monday evening.
This is a record for the lower house platform, launched in 2020 on the Internet to revive the right to petition. If the petition on the dissolution of the BRAV-M exceeds 500,000 signatories, from at least 30 departments, it could be the subject of a debate in the hemicycle, according to the rules of procedure of the Assembly.
One of the “symbols of police violence”
And even without reaching the threshold of 500,000 supporters, the presidency of the Assembly refers the petition to one of the permanent committees of the Palais-Bourbon, in this case undoubtedly the law committee. On the proposal of a deputy rapporteur, the committee can either close the petition or examine it internally.
The online petition considers that “the police repression that is befalling our country must lead to putting back on the agenda the imperative dismantling of the BRAV-M”. The text criticizes these Motorized Violent Action Repression Brigades for having become “one of the symbols of police violence”.
Created in the spring of 2019 during the yellow vests movement, the BRAV-M are police units circulating on motorcycles to maintain order during demonstrations, being more mobile than CRS companies or mobile gendarmes. Their mission is to go into contact with the thugs to stop the damage and challenge them. They are nevertheless decried for their methods of muscular intervention and are under several legal investigations for violence against demonstrators.