“We have the feeling that you no longer control your police. It is not an ultra-left militant who speaks to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. He is a deputy (PS) from the North. On Wednesday, Roger Vicot was the speaker of the socialist group during the hearing of the minister in the national assembly, after the violence which punctuated the recent demonstrations against the pension reform, but also in Sainte-Soline, against the mega pond project. When he was assistant to the security of the city of Lille, Roger Vicot did not have the reputation of being lax. Quite the contrary. However, he says he is “disappointed” and “taken aback” by the minister’s attitude.
How did this audition go?
Gérald Darmanin took a quarter of an hour to explain to us that what is happening in the country is the doing of the ultra-left. It also seems that this word “ultra-left” is an element of language because, for several days, all the deputies of the majority have been using it in every sentence. It was cartoonish. The country’s situation cannot be reduced to the existence of an ultra-left. It’s a strategy to make us look the other way.
That’s to say ?
We cannot ignore the reasons why we have come to this. There has obviously been an evolution in the national police’s employment doctrine from the use of 49.3 to push through the pension reform. I have a lot of respect for the police. Of course, I condemn all forms of violence, but we have the impression that new instructions are being given. Before 49.3, the demonstrations were framed in a spirit of appeasement. Then we moved on to systematic confrontations where the police do not make distinctions between the thugs and the demonstrators.
The minister would first have to reconsider the policing policy. But he doesn’t want to hear anything. »
We cannot deny the provocation of certain demonstrators…
But precisely, the role of the police is to keep his nerves. When you blindly load a demonstration, you are not attacking the ultra-left. When we bludgeon young people stuck against a wall, we are not attacking the ultra-left either. If the goal is to let loose against the demonstrators and behave like the most violent, where are we going? This country is crossed by real anger. Even if the radicalization is accentuated, at times, in the processions, that does not explain why the police return to the pile like that, with batons, tear gas and, more seriously, with the use of LBD. It should be remembered that it is a prohibited weapon in Great Britain and Germany. It is devastating and should only be used in extreme cases and in a proportionate way.
What does not work in France?
The minister would first have to reconsider the policing policy. But he doesn’t want to hear anything. Unlike Germany, the police have a culture of confrontation. We have the same problem as in the suburbs. We teach the police that the suburbs would be a territory of systematic danger. Distrust of each other is constantly fueled.
What solutions do you offer?
I have been pleading for a long time to overhaul police training. I had also presented amendments to this effect during the vote on the Lopmi law on security. This training should be changed. In Germany, for example, the police are trained in de-escalation. The police learn to calm down a situation. It is not a question of indulgence and laxity. Special units must apprehend the violent elements, but it is not by returning to the heap that this is achieved. I think that this training should be based on the social sciences to better understand what is happening in the country. And so that the police remain true peacekeepers. I really like the term “peacekeeper”.