Jean Castex will be this Monday evening under pressure from angry police unions who demand a stronger criminal response against those who attack the police, during a meeting in Matignon convened after the murder of a police officer in Avignon, which shook the whole profession.
Occurred ten days after the death of an administrative agent, Stéphanie Monfeture, killed at the Rambouillet police station by a Tunisian who would have become radicalized, the death of Eric Masson, 36, at a place of deal in the center of Avignon, triggered a wave of “disgust” among the police, according to several testimonies.
When the investigation in the Vaucluse, it advances: four people, including the alleged shooter, were arrested Sunday evening.
–
A “citizens’ march” on May 19
The excitement was such that the unions decided to organize a “citizens’ march” on May 19 in Paris and to suspend their participation in the “Beauvau de la sécurité”. Sunday, their leaders were all in Avignon for a tribute to the police officer killed by bullets, which brought together several thousand people.
One year before the presidential election, it is difficult for a government not to be attentive to the unease of the police.
“Lassitude”
All the union police officers refer to the “weariness” of the civil servants in the face of repeated violence. “Not a day goes by without clashes in difficult neighborhoods with throwing projectiles and fireworks or ambushes,” says Grégory Joron (SGP Police Unit).
They demand from the government a strong “penal response” for repeat offenders and for those who attack the police. Several avenues are on the table: end of the automaticity of remission of sentences, establishment of minimum sentences, irreducible sentences, and work on minors.
–
All turn to the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, who will also participate in this meeting in Matignon, from 7.45 p.m., as well as the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin.
But the unions do not want to hear Matignon speak on Monday of means (vehicles, equipment, etc.) for the police: “For the means, we see with the Ministry of the Interior,” retorts one of them.
–
