Unions representing half of French police officers have described those taking part in the rioting, which follows years of complaints of racial profiling and heavy handed policing, as “savage hordes” and “vermin”, saying they consider themselves “at war”.
The language of the Alliance Police Nationale and UNSA Police unions, which echoes far-right phrasing, is being denounced as inflammatory and potentially dangerous. In a statement bearing the title “Now that’s enough”, they said:
Faced with these savage hordes, asking for calm doesn’t go far enough. It must be imposed.
Re-establishing order in the republic and putting those arrested somewhere they can do no harm must be the only political signals to send out.
Our colleagues, like the majority of the public, can no longer have the law laid down to them by a violent minority.
This is not the time for industrial action, but for fighting against these ‘vermin’. To submit, to capitulate, and to give them pleasure by laying down weapons are not solutions, given the gravity of the situation.
They said: “Today, police officers are at the frontline because we are at war.” And they warned the government that, unless officers are given yet greater legal protections and more resources in the future, “tomorrow, we will be in resistance”.