A police check, a young woman shot dead by the police, and a debate that ignites on the political field. The death of the passenger of a vehicle whose driver is suspected of having refused to comply, late Saturday morning, June 4, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, revived the question of the use of force by the police and gendarmes and fed a new pass of arms between Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France insoumise, and his political adversaries.
>> Paris: what we know about the death of a passenger in a car, shot and killed by police denouncing a refusal to comply
Franceinfo returns in four acts to these lively political exchanges, which occur before the first round of the legislative elections.
1Mélenchon denounces “a police force that kills”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon reacted in two stages. A few hours after the events, while the passenger was between life and death, the leader of La France insoumise published a first message on Twitter denouncing “another unacceptable abuse of power” from the police. “The death penalty for a refusal to comply. The prefect approves? The minister congratulates? When is the shame?” he protested.
The following day, Sunday June 5, the former presidential candidate called the police union Alliance “factious group” and writes “the police kill”an expression that had already caused controversy for Philippe Poutou.
The police kill and the rebel group Alliance justifies the shootings and the death for “refusal to comply”. Shame is when?
— Jean-Luc Melenchon (@JLMelenchon) June 5, 2022
Guest of France Inter, Jean-Luc Mélenchon assumed to have “raise the tone” to denounce “the evolution of the use of police force as it is today defined by the political power that commands”. “If you vote for me, I will change the doctrine of the use of police force in our country”promised the one who hopes to become Prime Minister if the left alliance (Nupes) wins a majority of seats in the Assembly after the legislative elections of June 12 and 19.
.@JLMelenchon “obviously” assumes his remarks about the police who “kill” and the Alliance union, “a factional group”: “I say that it is not normal that someone is killed because he refuses to comply; he there is the law, punishments, fines but not the death penalty.” #le79Inter pic.twitter.com/C5pYh3kpPR
– France Inter (@franceinter) June 7, 2022
defending himself from being “anticop”Jean-Luc Mélenchon once again pointed out the “factious behavior”according to him, of certain “politico-union organizations” policewomen. “When the police have the only answer after the Pont-Neuf affair [au cours de laquelle un policier est soupçonné d’avoir tué le conducteur et un passager d’une voiture qui aurait forcé un contrôle] to hold a demonstration where they denounce justice, it is factious behavior! he thundered.
2Terminal criticism of “outrageous remarks”
The words of Jean-Luc Mélenchon triggered a salvo of criticism, at a time when Nupes was identified by the presidential majority as its main opponent in the legislative elections. “The police, the gendarmes deserve respect. They do a courageous, difficult job and risk their lives at every moment”Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin first reacted on Monday. “Insulting them dishonors those who want to govern. Let the investigations be done without using them as hostages of an electoral campaign.”
Guest of France Bleu, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was even more frontal. “I find it very shocking the way Jean-Luc Mélenchon systematically attacks the police with totally outrageous remarks”was moved the new head of government.
“I find it very shocking the way @JLMelenchon to systematically attack the police with totally outrageous remarks”, @Elisabeth_Borne at the microphone of @WendyBouchard in #My France pic.twitter.com/ZlCDhYdCln
— France Bleu (@francebleu) June 7, 2022
“Four deaths in 4 months. The death of a 21-year-old young woman shot in the head: no big deal for Borne. For her, only I am a problem”immediately retorted Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Twittercalling it “Technocratic Prime Minister without heart, without human compassion, without republican principle on public force”.
“It goes too far”for his part protested the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, criticizing a “controlled skid”. “It’s unbearable from a senior politician, especially in this election period”, estimated the Keeper of the Seals on BFMTV. And to ask: “Is it the ‘politburo’ of LFI that dispenses justice in this country?” “Opposing justice and the police, as some people do all the time, is extraordinarily serious for our republican pact”he still estimated, omitting in passing to recall that union officials from Alliance police repeated several times that “the police problem, [c’était] Justice”.
3The right and the extreme right engage
Jean-Luc Melenchon is “always on the side of the thugs”, “never from the police”, lambasted Marine Le Pen, the former candidate of the National Rally for the presidential election, on the antenna of franceinfo. The MP for Pas-de-Calais pleaded for a “presumption of self-defence” for the police. “When you’re a political leader at the level of Mélenchon, saying ‘the police kill’ is a real shame”she launched again.
“That Mr. Mélenchon makes his business from the permanent criticism of the police is a scandal”, for his part, was indignant Xavier Bertrand at the microphone of RTL. For President LR Hauts-de-France, the leader of Nupes should not “No way” become prime minister.
Invited on France 2, Bruno Retailleau, the boss of the senators of the Republicans, for his part denounced “intolerable words” and demanded “apology to the police”.
The words of @JLMelenchon are intolerable. He owes an apology. A simple reflection: who are responsible? Are these the only policemen or the driver who evaded police control and who rushed at the policemen? @France2tv #4V pic.twitter.com/Vd4Dem7jyi
— Bruno Retailleau (@BrunoRetailleau) June 7, 2022
4The left is hesitant
The positions of Jean-Luc Mélenchon have been variously appreciated within the left. Bernard Cazeneuve, former Minister of the Interior of François Hollande, notoriously opposed to the alliance of the left, estimated on Twitter that“insult and smear [les policiers] by electoralism and pure cynicism is irresponsible and unworthy
The police protect us. Police fall each year to ensure the protection of the French. They deserve our respect. To insult and smear them out of electoralism and sheer cynicism is irresponsible and unworthy.
— Bernard Cazeneuve (@BCazeneuve) June 7, 2022
Even within the New Popular Ecological and Social Union itself, some have chosen to distance themselves from the leader of the rebels. Questioned by franceinfo, the socialist spokesperson Dieynaba Diop thus estimated that Jean-Luc Mélenchon had used a vocabulary “too strong”. “I naturally have moderate lyrics”recognized Renaud Le Berre, environmental candidate for Nupes in the 5th constituency of French people living abroad, on franceinfo. “When there is a drama of this kind, you always have to be careful, to have all the elements of the investigation to decide.”
Guest of “4 Truths” on France 2, the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau, candidate of the Nupes in the 9th district of Paris, for her part gave strong support to Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “In fact, the police have killed, and in fact, it is not the first time”estimated the former candidate for the environmentalist primary who pleads for “to restore relations between the population and the police”.