"There is a form of decay in this social movement which is organized by the government", denounced Monday October 19 on France Inter Emmanuel Grégoire, the mayor of Paris, after the violence that occurred during Saturday's mobilization, which also continued on Sunday in the capital.
The elected socialist asks for “explanations” on the management of law enforcement and the government’s political choices. “We are above all in the time of requests, of explanations”, estimates Emmanuel Grégoire, two days after the demonstration. It is now necessary to "understand what happened, what went wrong in terms of public order", he explains, pointing out in particular a possible underestimate of the number of thugs and he questions the number of law enforcement officers deployed on the ground. The mayor of Paris criticizes in particular the tactics of maintaining order, such as the "traps preventing good faith demonstrators by the thousands from coming to the site with thugs infiltrated around the demonstration".
An “ineffective doctrine of maintaining order”, denounces Benoît Payan
"The government's doctrine" of maintaining order is "ineffective", says Benoît Payan, the mayor of Marseille, on France Inter. After Saturday's violence and in particular the invasion of Marseille town hall, the elected official is awaiting explanations from the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nunez, whom he is due to meet on Monday. The latter admitted earlier on France Inter a “lack of anticipation” and “a loss of control”. The day before, he presented his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron who refused it.
Benoît Payan wishes to “understand the doctrine of employment of law enforcement and maintenance of order in this country”. “This employment doctrine has changed. It is today ineffective. We see it, it prevents demonstrations from happening,” criticizes the mayor.
"I don't understand why the police used tear gas, not at the looters and thugs in Marseille, but at the demonstrators."
Benoît Payan, mayor of Marseille at France Inter
The mayor of Marseille questions the figure of 30,000 thugs in his city put forward by the Bouches-du-Rhône police headquarters. “I don’t know what the prefecture is playing.” Totally irrelevant figures for the elected official. “I find this defense quite ridiculous. 30,000 is half of the Vélodrôme stadium.” The mayor of Marseille explains that “police officers and officers from the prefecture speak of 1,500”.
In Paris as in Marseille, the looting continues
On Saturday, Marseille town hall was briefly invaded by demonstrators, who were subsequently dispersed by the police. “It’s overwhelming,” recognizes Benoît Payan. "A CRS cordon made a movement that I still cannot explain. I am still waiting for answers from the Minister of the Interior to find out why there was a withdrawal movement of the CRS which allowed the thugs to enter the town hall."
Looting continues “sporadically” in the city, adds the mayor. "There were interventions by the national police and the municipal police all night, until this morning again, with protection of stores, with looting which continued, which, fortunately, has absolutely nothing to do with the scenes of chaos, the scenes of urban guerrilla warfare that I witnessed on Saturday night. As I speak to you, things have calmed down. The police are correctly deployed in the city this morning so that things calm down. But I obviously remains very fearful and very attentive to what is going to happen."
“At least thirty traders” were looted in Paris during the night from Sunday to Monday, Emmanuel Grégoire said. “It is not on the scale of Saturday, but [there were] unbearable scenes of groups of looters who were spread across several districts of the city,” denounces the mayor of Paris, who claims to have spent the night on the ground to monitor the situation. However, he refuses to limit discussions to security issues alone.
“We cannot accept that this debate is just a public order debate.”
Emmanuel Grégoire, mayor of Paris at France Inter
“If there are thugs, it is because there are social movements,” insists the mayor of Paris, who accuses the government of organizing “a form of decay of this social movement”.
Benoît Payan also demands “compensation to the nearest cent” in the face of this damage. "In this Republic, it is up to the State to guarantee public tranquility and order. The State must now take its responsibilities so that this does not happen again. Secondly, so that the traders are compensated, these traders who lost everything, who saw their stores sometimes ransacked, but I will talk about it with the Minister of the Interior."
