new episode on March 23, 2023
When I was still police captain in 2012, a pair of young administrative executives within the French Ministère de l’intérieur [internal affairs ministry] attempted to convince me that Philippe Pétain should be praised, because he would have saved the Jewish French nationals, when on July 16 and 17, 1942, the French police rounded up in Paris 13,000 Jews, including 4,000 children, who were later taken to Auschwitz Vernichtungslager [extermination camp], where 99% of them were assassinated. That is the level of revisionism within a coterie of French officials who are supposed to handle security in France. The issue is more about right-wing personnel, nationalism and loyalty to the State, than simple antisemitism.
Here are a few practical cases. A majority of French are currently upset because Emmanuel Macron is attempting to enforce, without consent of the parliament, a neoliberal reform of the pensions. A new wave of strikes and demonstrations erupts across the country on March 23, 2023. 425 citizens are arrested but only 52 are later prosecuted for various offenses, like contempt of police officer. 373 arrests are simply illegal. Such crackdown is unacceptable in a so-called democracy.
During a previous demonstration in Paris on March 20, some witnesses have managed to record the rants of police officers against people who were illegally detained and even beaten in the street, have handed over the document to the media
Here is the translation
[cop 1] Erase your smile. Shut up, do you want another one [blow] ? Take example from your friends
[victim] I do not shut up
[cop 1] You start to stutter. Do you want another one [blow], to put your jaw back in place ?
[victim] Do not hesitate to repeat that over there
[cop 1] Where ?
[victim] Over there. Where will you take me ?
[cop 1] The police station. I will not go there, you will
[victim] That is why you are doing that
[cop 1] You know, I may sleep with you if you want
[victim] Let us go
[cop 1] The first one who has a hard-on buggers the other
[cop 2] We will teach you to respect us
[cop 3] You did not quite understand
[cop 4] You have not been educated
[cop 2] When I caught you, you started shaking. It was me who kicked first to your ankles
[cop 1] I can tell you that if you want to come back in the street, train your heart
[cop 3] I am enthusiastic
[cop 4] You have a punchable face
[cop 1] A while ago, you got it up inside, no more dick
[cop 3] Look at your friends, they are respecting us. They shut up
[victim] I do not give a damn
[cop 3] You are too cheeky
[cop 1] Your little head is already photographed. The next demonstration, you will not go to the police station, you will get in an ambulance, straight to hospital. We are beating Black Blocs [antifas] all the day. They have big balls but after, they are crying with their grandmother. They are picking up their teeth. You are lucky, when I saw your face, I pitied you [and so on, as it appears that the victim is a school boy]
[cop 2] He is not educated. His parents have missed something [their brigadier call them] You are lucky, we will take revenge on other people [and so on]
[cop] You are laughing ? Have you ever taken a real beating ? [and so on] Where is his ID ?
[victim] I have already given it
[cop] It is a resident permit
[victim] Yes
[cop] You will be taken in custody and tomorrow, you will receive a OQTF [an order to leave French territory]
[cop] What is your nationality ?
[victim] Chad
[cop] He will get back to Chad. How long are you in France ?
[victim] 4 years
[cop] Why have you deteriorated French public assets ?
[victim] I have deteriorated nothing
[cop] Why did you run ? [and so on] How did you come from Chad ? By sea, through Spain ?
[victim] By swimming
[cop] Such a warrior [yes he is]. Do not you know Malaga ? [and so on]
[victim] By plane
[cop] He grabbed hold on the wing of the plane [and so on] Have you come in order to demonstrate ?
These typical French cops are members of the BRAV-M, a riot police unit on motorcycles, which has been formed in Paris in March 2019, in order to crack down on Gilets Jaunes protesters
In the context of the Gilets Jaunes social protests, the BRAV-M was simply the revival of a previous riot formation on motorcycles, the voltigeurs, which was disbanded after an innocent young man, Malik Oussekine, had been beaten to death on December 6, 1986. I became inspecteur de police [police detective] in September 1989, when the French government was socialist.
Since a first reform that a right-wing government carried out in 1995, others until nowadays, the French police has drastically changed, is ever more focusing on maintien de l’ordre [order], that is crackdown on protesters against neoliberal reforms, at the expense of criminal investigation, that is justice. These modern voltigeurs are cheap cops, recruited at discount and trained as attack dogs, while the illegal actions of the police have become systemic. After dozens years as detective and intelligence officer in counter-terrorism, old school captain, while the Gilets Jaunes were quelled, I was sacked in 2020 and happy to leave, after I had stated publicly that these cops are unfit and coward.
Nicolas Cinquini 
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