National Post (National Edition)
FRENCH POLICE STAGE ‘ANGER MARCH’
YELLOW VEST FALLOUT
French police officers and supporters stage a “March of Anger” through the streets of Paris to protest poor working conditions on Wednesday.
Police suicides have risen tenfold this year in France, which has been rocked by months of “yellow vest” violence.
PA R I S • Thousands of French police officers Wednesday staged a “march of anger” in Paris in a protest on a scale not seen in almost 20 years.
Officers are exhausted after months of “yellow vest” violence in the major cities every weekend that saw protesters target officers, who were themselves accused of heavy-handed tactics.
Police unions said morale was at rock bottom and that suicides this year alone were already 10 higher than the annual average of 42. Organizers said 27,000 police of all ranks gathered at Bastille for the first time since 2001, when they protested en masse at the release of an armed robber who had murdered two officers.
Attacks on police rose 15 per cent this year in the wake of the yellow vest revolt.
“Things can’t go on like this,” said David Bars, head of the police chief union SCPN-Unsa.
“We’re here to fight for our working conditions and above all to pay tribute to our colleagues who took their own lives,” said a young officer in the Paris transport police. Officer Cyril Benoit said: “There’s always been pressure on police — but never like this.”
Another officer, Antoine, 40, said: “Television keeps replaying videos of (allegedly brutal) police actions but you don’t see the paving stone that flew overhead seconds before.”
Police protesters claim they have worked 23-million hours in overtime without pay.
Also among the grievances aired by protesting police officers was a plan by French President Emmanuel Macron to reform pensions.
Several professions, including public transport workers, doctors, lawyers and pilots have already voiced their discontent over this planned reform, fearing they will lose out.
“It’s unacceptable that we work until the age of 65 and run after thieves until we’re 65. All we want is respect, consideration, and that beyond words, we see concrete actions,” said Frederic Lagache, a representative of a police union.
Christophe Castaner, the interior minister, said the police budget was being raised by a billion euros over Macron’s five-year presidency. Macron himself has vowed to recruit an extra 10,000 officers. Under a 1948 rule, police are forbidden to strike.