Mine clearance operation at Place Beauvau. The Minister of the Interior is due to receive the national police union organizations this Tuesday morning to discuss with them the organization of the Paris Olympic Games. The subject is sensitive. To meet this “challenge” on the security level, Gérald Darmanin wants an “exceptional mobilization” of the police. In a two-page letter addressed to police unions on December 22 and consulted by 20 minutes, the minister indicates that 100% of the police and gendarmerie forces will be on deck between July 24 and August 11. Civil servants and soldiers will be able to take 10 days of vacation outside of this period, between June 15 and September 15. As compensation, he offers to pay them a bonus of 500 euros, “which could be increased to 1,000 euros, or even 1,500 euros if the commitment is particularly exceptional”.
In his response to the minister, the general secretary of the SGP Police Unit union, Grégory Joron, expressed his concerns. They concern in particular the ability of police officers to “preserve the family unit” during the summer holidays. “I am thinking of the separated parent agents who fear not being able to honor the alternating custody of their children and foresee the possible review of the court decision, of the parents of disabled children whose specialized centers close at this time,” writes the trade unionist. In particular, he asks Gérald Darmanin that “agents in charge of school children be guaranteed leave during the school vacation period”. He also wants the payment of a bonus of 1,500 euros “for all agents of the national police”.
“We don’t know how the police will be eaten”
In order to put pressure on the Ministry of the Interior, SGP Police-FO Unit is mobilizing its troops this Wednesday by organizing its “opening ceremony”, tells us Linda Kebbab, national delegate of the union. “It’s a way of reminding the minister that it’s time for him to respond to us because the police are really very worried. We are four months from the start of the flame and we do not know in what sauce the police will be eaten,” she explains to us. Four double-decker buses will leave the Accor Arena around 9:30 a.m. and will reach Les Invalides via the Olympic sites. Nearly 300 police officers are expected to take part in the procession. “We do not close the door to other actions if the ministry does not follow up,” insists Linda Kebbab.
Especially since another mobilization is already planned for January 18. It is led, this time, by a bloc made up of thirteen unions, including Alliance and Unsa Police. “The type of action and the modalities have not yet been decided. This will depend, among other things, on the meeting which must be held tomorrow (Tuesday) at the ministry,” indicates 20 minutes Eric Henry, national delegate of the Alliance union. The demands match those made by SGP Police-FO Unit. They concern in particular “the time cycles, the methods of organizing work which are not at all known”, the obtaining of a “specific bonus for the Olympic Games much higher than that announced by the Minister of the Interior”, and better “social support” for agents who have dependent children, explains Eric Henry.
“There is real anger, and a lack of understanding from colleagues,” he emphasizes. He regrets “the lack of recognition” in the letter sent by Gérald Darmanin, while the missions of the police, he says, have increased in recent years.