Discontent within the French police force has swollen since the riots that accompanied the death of young Nahel. Law enforcement feels let down by political authorities, and a protest movement—that began in Marseille after a police officer was detained on suspicion of violence—is spreading throughout the country.
On the night of July 1st, just a few days after Nahel was killed by a police officer in Nanterre, a 22-year-old boy called Hedi was beaten unconscious in the streets of Marseille. On Thursday, July 20th, four police officers from the BAC (Brigade Anti Criminelle) were charged with assaulting the young man. One of them was placed in pre-trial detention—a decision that sparked strong protests within the police force, and prompted Frédéric Veaux, the director general of the police, to call for his release. “Knowing that he is in prison keeps me awake at night,” he declared on Sunday, July 23rd. On Twitter, the director general of the police received the support of Paris police prefect Laurent Nunez. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin also took a stand in support of the police, assuring the director general of “all his support.”
For Frédéric Veaux, there may have been professional misconduct on the part of these men, but he called for the context to be taken into account and felt that the incarceration was excessive: “During the riots, the police often intervened in an atmosphere of total chaos. We can’t ignore that context,” he said in an interview with Le Parisien.
Prohibited from the right to strike, the police have chosen to use another means of protest at the call of one of their unions, Unité SGP Police FO, to show their disapproval of the detention of one of their own. The aim is to provide a minimum service, known as ‘code 562,’ without stopping work, which would be illegal. Historically, this is a “computerised procedural code, provided by the administration, to say that police officers are on duty, but not in the streets,” the general secretary of the union behind the call explained to the press. Police officers are present at their place of work, but appear to be ‘on break,’ and only intervene in emergencies, such as when a call is made to the emergency 17 number. In this situation, police do not handle complaints.
Another tactic used by police officers in Marseille is to take sick leave. In Marseille alone, for example, nearly 300 police officers went on sick leave, according to figures from the regional newspaper La Provence, to show their support for their imprisoned colleagues.
The movement, which started in Marseille, is now spreading across the country. “It’s not a movement of anger but rather one of disgust,” Fabien Vanhemelryck, a member of another influential police union, Alliance Police Nationale, told BFM. The Marseille affair is the culmination of years of frustration felt by police officers who have been constantly sent on difficult and unpopular missions since the outbreak of the yellow vests crisis in 2018.
While the press talks a lot about police violence, they seem ready to ignore violence committed against police officers, which is on the rise.
“It’s a mixture of frustration, pressure and a sense of injustice after these events. We do not feel supported, a large part of the population does not want to see us anymore. We have the feeling of being let go,” a police source told Le Figaro.
French police have voiced their concerns in recent years, particularly over issues of anti-police violence. In 2021, a large demonstration of police and their supporters saw around 35,000 people attend in Paris to call on the government to do more to protect police following the killing of an officer named Eric Masson, who died during an anti-drug operation.
A report released earlier that year revealed that violent attacks against police officials had doubled within the span of 20 years and had become more and more common in areas like the troubled Seine-Saint-Denis suburbs of Paris.
While officers are routinely injured during riots, others are often attacked when they are in plainclothes or off duty, as was the case with two officers during the July riots, who were attacked by a mob of people in Marseille who had recognized them as being police, causing them both severe injuries.
Suicide rates among law enforcement are rising. At this publication, a year ago, we were already drawing our readers’ attention to the explosion in suicides within the French police force, proof of a deep-rooted malaise. Now, the rebellion has spread to the Seine-Saint-Denis department, where police officers are also adopting the ‘562 code’ or going on sick leave. “Everyone is at the end of their tether. It’s a kind of reflection. It’s the one blow too many that makes you say to yourself that it’s no longer possible. I don’t feel like going to work under these conditions any more,” one policeman told France Info.
The attitude of the government at the time of the Nahel affair—with, for example, the minute’s silence in memory of the young man held at the National Assembly—sent the message that the hierarchy did not support them. The double incarcerations of the police officer involved in the Nanterre case and that of the officer from Marseilles have poisoned the well, especially as the Nanterre officer is being treated particularly harshly: for the past three weeks, he has been denied the right to see his family in the visiting room.
During his televised address from New Caledonia, President Emmanuel Macron once again tried his hand at the ‘at the same time’ exercise, saying he could “understand” the anger of the police officers, but reminded them that “no one is above the law.” The left-wing opposition (La France Insoumise, the Socialists, and the Ecologists) threw fuel on the fire when they strongly condemned the director general of police, whom they accused of undermining the independence of the judiciary because he challenged the decision to enforce provisional incarceration.
Opposition between the judiciary and the police is one of the recurring motifs for those who relate the laxity of the judiciary to the explosion in crime in France. In 2021, at a police rally outside the National Assembly, the general secretary of the Alliance union declared: “The problem with the police is the justice system!”
This battle between the two institutions has been reignited through the Marseille case. The traditionally left-wing Syndicat de la Magistrature has spoken out against the police officer; a judge expressed concern over the “seditious” nature of the police movement. At the moment, the two stand at loggerheads, with very little hope of finding a solution.
