They paraded without an Olympic flame. Several hundred police officers demonstrated Thursday throughout France, at the call of a group of unions led by Alliance and Unsa-Police, to demand financial compensation for their mobilization during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this summer.
This “Black Thursday”, according to the organizers, took various forms: distribution of leaflets as in Bordeaux, minimum activity in police stations, work-to-rule strike in airports or even mid-day rallies in front of numerous police stations across the country.
“The Olympics will be without us”
The main gathering brought together several hundred police officers in Paris, near the police headquarters and City Hall. “The Olympics will be without us,” chanted the civil servants, flags of their unions or “no involvement without recognition” banners in hand.
Alliance number 1, Fabien Vanhemelryck, warned that “the action was only just beginning if (they) were not listened to”. “Without exceptional measures, without prior agreement, the Olympics will be without us. Without taking into account our investment, it will be without us. »
The unions are demanding in particular guarantees on summer leave rights, bonuses for all agents of up to 2,000 euros and social support, in particular for childcare.
The unions received by Darmanin
The three main organizations defending peacekeepers (Alliance, SGP Police-FO Unit and Unsa-Police) were received on Monday by Gérald Darmanin. “The minister reiterated his wish that the support measures be finalized by the end of January,” the Interior Minister’s entourage indicated to AFP, specifying that the discussions on “the modalities of remuneration for this mobilization and social support (childcare)” had been “constructive”.
An envelope of 500 million euros should be released, according to two sources close to the matter. In a letter sent on December 22 to the FO union of the Ministry of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin had requested “100% mobilization” of agents from July 26 to August 11 and proposed 10 working days of leave for each agent between June 15 and September 15. On the bonus side, the Ministry of the Interior mentions 500 euros in compensation, 1,000 or even 1,500 euros in the event of a “particularly exceptional” commitment.