'We're not barbarians': French police say ahead of protest against working conditions

Record ID: 1434463

  • Title: 'We're not barbarians': French police say ahead of protest against working conditions
  • Date: 1st October 2019
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 26, 2019) (REUTERS) MAN HOLDING UP SIGN READING (French): "WHAT DOES THE POLICE DO? BARBARIANS" MAN HOLDING UP ANTI-POLICE SIGN DURING POLICE UNION PROTEST MAN HOLDING UP PLACARD AT POLICE PROTEST READING (French): "GOVERNMENT'S LIES, (FRENCH INTERIOR MINISTER CHRISTOPHE) CASTANER IS GUILTY" VARIOUS OF POLICE UNION PROTESTERS GATHERED (SOUNDBITE) (French) SECRETARY GENERAL OF FRENCH POLICE UNION ALLIANCE, FABIEN VANHEMELRYCK, SAYING: "The work of a policeman is more and more difficult. Being a police officer is more and more dangerous. Our colleagues work 24 hours a day, and they're fed up. They're overexposed, overworked. They're doing the best they could. They're confronted with an increasing violence in the face of society's problems. Today, they're doing the best they could with very few resources."
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2019 16:21
  • Keywords: France police protests yellow vests violence tear gas G7 summit
  • Location: PARIS AND BIARRITZ, FRANCE
  • City: PARIS AND BIARRITZ, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001AZ9OPJB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Even at their own demonstration, police officers who gathered against degrading working conditions on Thursday (September 26) were outnumbered by counter-protesters who carried signs and chanted slogans bashing authorities.
    Organised by the Police Union Alliance, last week's protest took place in front of the headquarters of far-left party France Unbowed, whose leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, a fervent police critic, has called officers "barbarians."
    Police officers are now planning a day of marches on Wednesday (October 2) as part of their response to what they feel is hatred towards them by pockets of protesters and their supporters.
    Police Union Alliance Secretary-General Fabien Vanhemelryck said many police officers were feeling overworked and unappreciated in the line of duty.
    Although an Elabe survey conducted for French media in May showed 74 percent of French people maintain a good view of the police, 38 percent still believe authorities used excessive force during the often-violent protests.
    Police also say they have been working too much at other functions. For one, more than 13,000 police were mobilised in Biarritz in August for the G7 summit.
    The months-long "yellow vest" protests, named after motorists' high-visibility jackets, are seeking to revive participation in demonstrations that have sometimes turned violent. Protesters have claimed police used excessive force.
    The movement emerged late last year, triggered by fuel tax rises and swelling into a revolt against President Emmanuel Macron's style of government.
    (Production: Antony Paone, Ardee Napolitano)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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