From July 2 to 25, alleged violence against a young man in Marseille led to a crisis with the French police. From events in France’s second-largest city to walkouts at police stations, Le Monde looks back at how things unfolded.
1 – Saturday, July 2: Police officers allegedly beat a young man
As riots raged across France in reaction to the death of Nahel M., a 17-year-old shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop in Nanterre, west of Paris, on June 29, the situation is particularly agitated in Marseille’s city center.
On the night of Sunday, July 2, a 22-year-old man is shot in the temple with a rubber-bullet launcher. He is then allegedly beaten up by up to five police officers. The victim later identified the officers as belonging to an anti-crime squad. The incident will be made public many days later.
2 – Wednesday, July 5: Investigation starts, police inspection body seized
At this point, there still has been no publicity about the incident. While the young man, Hedi, remains hospitalized, the Marseille public prosecutor’s office says a judicial investigation is being opened over “violence in a group by a person in a position of public authority” resulting in work incapacity “of more than eight days.”
The public prosecutor’s office has referred the case to the Marseille regional criminal investigation department (Direction Territoriale de la Police Judiciaire de Marseille) and the Inspectorate General of National Police (IGPN), an internal unit investigating police misconduct.
3 – Monday, July 10: Hedi’s testimony is published by local daily newspaper
The young man, aged 21 at the time of the alleged events, is an assistant manager in the catering sector. In the local daily newspaper La Provence, he recounts going out after his shift “finished around 1:30 am” with a close friend, Lillian. As they reach Marseille’s Old Port area, they come across “four or five men” plain-clothes officers with “a gun in their belt and a Flash-Ball around their neck.”
According to Lilian: “When they asked us what we were doing here, one of them had his gun in his hand, his finger on the trigger, and another unfolded his truncheon. I don’t think we even had time to respond. I blocked one of the blows with my arm, and we turned to run away. Then I heard a shot.”
Hedi says: “They pulled me by my clothes and dragged me into an alley; they put me on my back, and one put his knees on my legs to block them. I was trying to protect myself, but I could feel the blood running from my head, I thought I still had the bullet in me.”
4 – Tuesday, July 18: Eight police officers are detained
Eight police officers from two anti-crime units are detained on IGPN premises. After 48 hours in custody, four police officers still being questioned leave the IGPN to the applause of their colleagues.
5 – Thursday, July 20: Four police officers are charged, one remanded in custody
The four police officers are charged with “violence in a group by a person in a position of public authority” resulting in work incapacity “of more than eight days.” Three are under judicial supervision with a “ban on exercising their professional activity as police officers.” The fourth is remanded in custody, becoming the second police officer in three weeks to be jailed pending trial, after the one suspected of having shot Nahel M., an unusual situation in France.
The same day, dozens of civil servants gather in front of a Marseille courthouse to support their colleagues.
6 – Friday, July 21: ‘Minimum service’ in Marseille police stations
Police officers do not have the right to strike. Nevertheless, many police officers in Marseille have been prescribed sick leave. Others cite the “code 562”: A form of minimum service restricted to emergency missions at the expense of patrols and hearings of victims, suspects, and witnesses.
7 – Sunday, July 23: The French police top boss expresses support for his troops
In an interview with daily Le Parisien, Frédéric Veaux, the director general of the French national police (DGPN), Frédéric Veaux, praises the action of his men during the riots, who “in this situation close to chaos, showed physical and moral courage, and total commitment.”
Another section of the interview sparked vivid controversy:
“I believe that before a possible trial, a police officer has no place in prison, even if he or she may have committed faults or serious errors in the course of his or her work. I’m not talking about cases involving probity or honesty. But when a police officer is in the line of duty, it must be admitted that he or she may make errors of judgment. Police officers must be accountable for their actions, including in court, but we must also take into account the guarantees they enjoy, which distinguish them from criminals or thugs. I repeat, in this type of case, committal to prison is not the solution.”
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“I share the DGPN’s comments,” Laurent Nunez, Paris police prefect, adds on Twitter.
8 – Monday, July 24: The left is outraged, Macron’s allies silent
The allies of French President Emmanuel Macron in parliament and the government have remained remarkably quiet, starting with Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin who has not said a word on the case.
The left-wing opposition, meanwhile, decries “the entire police hierarchy placing itself above the law” (Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Parti Socialiste), warned that “what is at stake here is democracy and respect for the rule of law” (Ugo Bernalicis, an MP with La France Insoumise, radical left).
Magistrates are also concerned with Veaux’s comments, as expressed by Cécile Mamelin, vice-president of the Union Syndicale des Magistrats (Magistrates union):
“Our union has always expressed its support for the police, as they operate in extremely difficult and violent conditions. But to know nothing about the substance of a case and to speak out unreservedly, when legal recourse exists for police officers as for any other citizen, is tantamount to undermining the very foundations of the rule of law.”
9 – Monday, July 24: Macron reacts
The French president is the guest of France’s 1 pm news programs on France 2 and TF1 televisions. He did not speak publically on July 14, as presidents usually do for Bastille Day, and after a July 20 reshuffle. When asked about Veaux’s comments that day, Macron declines to comment on the remarks.
“I’m not going to comment on what the director general [Veaux] has said, because I’m the guarantor of institutions and the independence of the judiciary. It’s a decision taken by a magistrate, so I’m not going to comment on it. In our country, police officers are there to ensure that the law is properly enforced and that the republican order is maintained. The rule of law presupposes the presumption of innocence for everyone, and respect for the law for everyone.”
“But our police officers and gendarmes were present during those nights in the face of an unprecedented outpouring of violence, 900 of them were injured during those nights and there are 28 investigations by the IGPN and IGGN [Inspectorate General of National Gendarmes]. We need to put things in their proper place, and be absolutely inflexible when there are excesses, when ethics are not respected. Everyone must respect the law. But I wouldn’t want us to get into the wrong kind of debate, and I understand the emotion of our police officers who felt they were confronted with the most extreme violence. We must listen to this emotion, while upholding the rule of law for all. They themselves operate within the framework of the law and the rule of law. No one in the Republic is above the law.”
10 – Tuesday, July 25: Police protest spreads
Resorting to sick leave or “code 562,” police officers keep expressing their discontent, and the anger has spread, first to France’s southeast, then to the Paris region. On a visit to New Caledonia with Macron, Darmanin remains tight-lipped.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne insists on “the need for justice to be able to do its job serenely,” denying any disagreement with the interior minister and the president. According to Borne: “Everyone is saying the same thing.”
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