Rare Police Protest Sheds Light on French Criminal Justice System
A combination of police syndicates in France, comprised of peacekeepers, local officers and police commissioners, united to stage a protest at Vendôme Place - a major square in the center of Paris - and outside justice buildings across the country on October 14. In Paris alone, there were 5,000 protesters underneath the windows of the Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira’s office at Vendôme Place. This rare show of solidarity against the government was sparked by a shooting on October 5 in l’Ile-Saint-Denis, a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris - where a police officer incurred near-fatal wounds to his head and neck. Immediately following the shooting, the National Police Alliance, one of the largest police syndicates in France and the one primarily responsible for organizing this effort, denounced the country’s justice system for releasing the unnamed shooter from jail despite his continued history of radical terrorist behavior.
Protesters gathered outside Minister Taubira’s office in particular to emphasize that violence against police cannot be solved without cooperation between the Department of the Interior, which administers the police force, and the Department of Justice, which Taubira oversees. The police force primarily called for better equipment and a stronger criminal justice system to prevent a repeat of what happened in Saint-Denis. Frédéric Lagache, the adjunct Secretary General for the National Police Alliance, said in an interview with RT France that the police officers simply want to assure their safety and security while still acknowledging the inherent risks of a job in law enforcement. They consider it the government’s responsibility to protect their personal liberties so that they are able to do their job in total security.
In an effort to address the concerns of the police force after the shooting and to discourage potential protests, Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve said during a talk at France’s military academy on October 13 that there was nothing to be gained in opposing the law and the institutions upon which the nation is run.
Though Minister Cazeneuve might question its merits, being able to protest in France is generally considered a fundamental right. The government even passed an executive order in 1935 requiring that, when scheduling a protest, three of the organizers must present the date, time and purpose of the protest to mayor’s office at least three days in advance. This policy helps ensure that French citizens can have their opinions heard with the least amount of inconvenience to the general public. The French people embrace this system wholeheartedly, and now it seems that even law enforcement is joining in as a unified coalition for the first time in almost three decades.
The shooting at Saint-Denis was a tipping point that pushed the police to finally protest a host of ongoing issues, namely a lack of resources and an overly lenient criminal justice system. As a result of this most recent protest, Prime Minister Manuel Valls has promised simplified criminal procedures and stricter consequences for weapon possession, while President François Hollande has pledged to meet with police unions in the coming weeks. Now, with a unanimous show of support from all the police syndicates across the country, the protesters hope to see concrete results.