French officers have gathered outside police stations in several cities to protest recent statements about law enforcement made by Interior Minister Castaner. Footage from the scene shows policemen standing in rows, throwing their handcuffs on the ground.
Des policiers français viennent exprimer leur colère devant les commissariats #Castaner #police pic.twitter.com/mrfqc7gQL8
— Xenia__Sputnik (@XseniaSputnik) June 11, 2020
The demonstrations have been initiated by Yves Lefebvre, the general secretary of the Unite SGP-Police union after Castaner said on Monday that the police arrest technique of seizing the neck will be abandoned and no longer taught in police and gendarmerie schools, while also vowing to suspend officers on racism allegations.
Lefebvre asked Castaner to give up on his ban and called his Monday speech "unacceptable".
"I call all the French police officers...to symbolically put down their handcuffs", Lefebvre said on Thursday. "What we have been through since Monday is unacceptable. We make false trials to satisfy the vox populi and some collectives who represent only themselves."
#SputnikPhotos | Action sans menottes: des #policiers français manifestent devant les commissariats en réponse aux annonces de #Castaner https://t.co/GcLByspMHH#police pic.twitter.com/9eSBPFPZyN
— Sputnik France (@sputnik_fr) June 11, 2020
On Wednesday evening, police officers gathered on the Place Massena in Nice in protest against the recent statements of Castaner. According to Lefebvre, Castaner has lost the trust of the French police following his comments.
#Nice une cinquantaine de collègues sur la place Massena pour marquer leur dépit et leur malaise après les déclarations du Ministre de l’Interieur @usgp06 solidaire de cette action. #Gyro2Tons pic.twitter.com/mxyqHEDMrj
— UNITE SGP POLICE 06 (@usgp06) June 10, 2020
Castaner's decision was provoked by the death of black Minneapolis resident Geroge Floyd, detained by police in late May, and the ongoing protests against police brutality which erupted in its aftermath in the United States and which have since spread to several European countries, including France.
The officer who used the strangling technique on Floyd has been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, while three other officers involved in Floyd's arrest have been fired.
