Returning to his two controversial tweets from Saturday and Sunday, the leader of LFI said on France Inter to assume them, explaining that he had “raised his voice” to denounce “the evolution of the use of police force as it is today defined by the political power that commands”.
“I want us to talk about it,” he insisted, after the death of a car passenger shot in the head in the 18th arrondissement of Paris following the supposed refusal to comply by the driver, himself. even seriously injured.
The police custody started on Sunday in the premises of the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) of the two men and the woman who allegedly shot at the vehicle was extended on Monday.
The police are heard for “violence having caused a total interruption of work of more than 8 days with a weapon by a person holding public authority” and “violence having caused death without intention to give it by a person holding public authority “.
“If you vote for me, I will change the doctrine for the use of police force in our country”, for a “proportionate” use, promised Mr. Mélenchon, who is not running for the legislative elections of June 12 and 19 but is betting on an appointment to Matignon if the left-wing Nupes alliance wins a majority in the Assembly.
Defending himself to be “anticop”, he again pointed the finger at the “factious behavior” according to him of certain police “politico-union organizations”.
In his weekend tweets, Mr. Mélenchon had denounced “a police (which) kills”, guilty of applying “the death penalty for a refusal to comply” and exercising “an unacceptable abuse of power”. “The prefect approves? The minister congratulates? Shame is when?”, he added, also attacking the Alliance union which defended the civil servants.
Words that triggered an immediate salvo of criticism, when the Nupes is identified by the presidential majority as the main opponent for this election.
“I find it very shocking how Jean-Luc Mélenchon systematically attacks the police with totally outrageous remarks,” said Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on France Bleu on Tuesday.
– “Excuses” –
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is “always on the side of the thugs”, “never on the side of the police”, lambasted the former RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on franceinfo, defending a “presumption of self-defense” for the police.
On the right, the boss of senators LR Bruno Retailleau denounced “intolerable remarks”, and demanded his “apologies to the police”.
“That Mr. Mélenchon makes his business from the permanent criticism of the police is a scandal”, exclaimed the president LR of Hauts de France and ex-minister Xavier Bertrand on RTL: “never in life” he must not to be prime minister.
And for the mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi, ex-LR and today support of Emmanuel Macron, “we must put out of harm’s way the characters who express themselves in this way about the police”, a- he said on BFMTV and RMC.
The Alliance union, which intended to file a complaint against Mr. Mélenchon on Tuesday, denounces the “repeated and assumed” use by Mr. Mélenchon of the term “factious”, underlined Loïc Travers, general administrative secretary of the union, on BFMTV. While the Synergy union accuses him of “tapping a little more with the caïdat”.
– “Electoralism” –
Jean-Luc Mélenchon sweeps aside the criticisms, arguing that they come from “politicians all on the right or on the far right”.
But if in the ranks of the Nupes, it is radio silence, the Socialists opposed to the alliance with La France insoumise and supporters of dissident candidacies for these legislative elections do not hesitate to add their voices to the criticisms.
“Police officers fall every year to ensure the protection of the French. They deserve our respect. Insulting and smearing them out of electoralism and pure cynicism is irresponsible and unworthy,” wrote former socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Twitter.
This subject of “police violence” risks agitating in recent days of a hitherto sluggish campaign: a policeman fired on the night of Monday to Tuesday in Argenteuil (Val-d’Oise) on a 21-year-old motorist and suspected of having refused a check, injuring his back, we learned on Tuesday from police sources.
At the end of April, a police officer was indicted for “intentional homicide”, suspected of having killed the driver and a passenger of a car which would have forced a control on the Pont-Neuf in Paris.
