“It’s a family, I’m bringing them all back”: in Nice, behind the scenes of maintaining order with a CRS company on alert

“I tell you, I’m a white cat,” half-jokes Laëtitia Vincent, commander of CRS 40, a company stationed in Nice for almost two weeks now. The fifth largest city in France, without being the epicenter of the protests, nevertheless experienced its share of businesses looted and ransacked on October 17, leaving a bitter taste for its residents who were unaccustomed to such excesses. The following weekend, members of an ultra-right group confronted demonstrators in clashes that left three people injured. Halloween night was also marked by several arrests. But, this Thursday, November 5, the demonstration organized under the leadership of the unions against the high cost of living seems likely to take place calmly, hence the relative relief of this experienced police officer - the only woman in France at the head of a law enforcement company.

After two weekends of mobilization, the sixty men under his command carried out a new…