The goal of the black bloc “is to undermine our representative democracy”, assures Laurent Nuñez who accuses them of wanting to “create an insurrectionary climate”.
“As usual, we expect the presence of a black bloc”, Tuesday afternoon March 28, in the Paris procession of the 10th day of mobilization against the pension reform, “especially after what happened on Thursday and this weekend in Sainte-Soline”says Laurent Nuñez, prefect of police of Paris, on France Inter.
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“What we saw last Thursday was an increase in volume of this black bloc, an increase in radicality, but they already existed”, he explains. Laurent Nuñez points the finger at the “pre-cortege” animated by “radical elements that belong to the ultra-left and attack the forces of order”.
“We must get out of the idyllic vision of the first demonstrations” against the pension reform.
According to the prefect of police of Paris, the black blocks were already present. “What we have seen is an increase in volume and radicality”, considers @NunezLaurent#le7930inter pic.twitter.com/f4tXAE6HHL
– France Inter (@franceinter) March 28, 2023
Laurent Nuñez points the finger at the “pre-cortege” animated by “radical elements that belong to the ultra-left and attack the forces of order”. According to his information, it is “individuals followed by the intelligence services”, for some comers “from European countries”. “Their goal is to undermine our representative democracy”believes Laurent Nuñez, denouncing the “desire of some to create an insurrectional climate”. “The police will still be present to maintain republican order”he underlines while the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced Monday a “unprecedented safety device” for Tuesday with 13,000 police and gendarmes, including 5,500 in the capital.
Criticized by some for his disproportionate security system, Laurent Nuñez assures that “police interventions are systematically proportionate” while recognizing “a few exceptions which give rise to referrals to the IGPN”.
“I engage the force when you have individuals dressed all in black who start breaking up businesses. There is not a country in the world where we do not intervene in this kind of situation.”
Laurent Nuñez, Prefect of Police of Parisat franceinfo
The prefect indicates that he invited Claire Hédon, the Defender of Rights, who had said to himself “concerned” And “worry” the consequences of preventive arrests, to come to the command room. “She agrees, she will come, and she will see when I decide to engage the force.” Moreover, Laurent Nuñez refuses to speak of preventive intervention, judging the expression “very political”. “It would mean that we arrest people to prevent them from going to demonstrations. No! We arrest people who we presume have committed an offense and these are the only arrests that we carry out under the authority of the prosecution “assures the prefect.
The dissolution of the Brav-M “not on the agenda”
Asked about the significant discrepancy between the number of arrests and those leading to prosecution, Laurent Nuñez specifies that “That does not mean that the offense was not committed, it means that we could not, within 48 hours of police custody, individually materialize the commission of this offense”.
Laurent Nuñez also maintains that the dissolution of Brav-M in Paris “is not on the agenda”. These motorized units at the heart of criticism of police repression during protests against pension reform “are precious to us”, he adds. “They are very mobile, they travel on motorbikes to get from one point to another faster, which is very useful”, insists the prefect, while a petition for their dissolution has already collected more than 110,000 signatures on the site of the National Assembly.