A hearing which marks the start of the work. The National Assembly's commission of inquiry devoted to the management of law enforcement on October 17 heard for almost three hours the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, on Tuesday, November 3.
Parliamentarians from all sides – except from the National Rally, which refused to participate in this commission – questioned him about this day of mobilization against the high cost of living marked by damage, violence and looting on an unprecedented scale, as well as by several injuries, both among the police and among demonstrators, in several large cities. Here is what to remember from the statements of Laurent Nuñez, who took the oath before starting to speak.
“A lack of anticipation which is first and foremost mine”
Before answering the deputies' questions, the Minister of the Interior made an introductory statement, in which he, once again, assumed his responsibility regarding the urban violence that occurred on the sidelines of official demonstrations. Shortly after that day, Laurent Nuñez submitted his resignation to Emmanuel Macron, who refused it.
“I say it again: the results of the day of October 17 are a failure, from the moment when the security of public buildings and businesses could not be ensured. At the same time, the internal security forces were confronted with unprecedented violence. But let us be clear: the failure observed does not in itself imply a fault on the part of the State services,” the minister explained.
If he recognizes an "underestimation of the intelligence services" regarding the extent of the mobilization, the looting and the breakups, he considers that a better assessment could not have avoided what happened, given, according to him, the "intensity of the violence of that day".
A little later, the Minister of the Interior said he assumed “a lack of anticipation (…) which is first and foremost mine”. According to Laurent Nuñez, what was "surprising" that day "was not having seen that all these phenomena predicted by the intelligence services were going to occur simultaneously, so as to shatter the police system." “The volume of people who wanted to degenerate things was greater than we expected,” he detailed.
Laurent Nuñez pointed out four “extremely important events which occurred at the same time” on October 17: the official demonstration, the appearance of wild processions, the presence of “radicalized activists”, and the arrival in the evening and late afternoon “of thugs and looters”. Laurent Nuñez insisted on this “conjunction of risks” and estimated that he had not anticipated the “number greater than what we expected”. “What we didn’t anticipate was that they were going to arrive simultaneously and train each other.”
“The ultra-left mobilized in an unusual way”
From the start of the damage to public buildings and businesses, many political figures, particularly within the executive, accused the ultra-left of being involved in the violence. The Minister of the Interior reiterated these accusations before the commission of inquiry. “We have a fairly new phenomenon: the ultra-left has mobilized in an unusual way with the aim of disrupting the police system,” he explained. “Ultra-left and radicalized far-left activists immediately degenerated the march,” also affirmed Laurent Nuñez.
“They are quite clever and quite clever people. They are very good at degenerating things and they are very good at never being arrested,” continued the Minister of the Interior. The minister returned to the comments of the Paris public prosecutor, who declared, on October 19, that she could "absolutely not confirm" that the people placed in police custody under her jurisdiction would be "politicized towards the ultra-left". “This is obviously strictly correct. But that does not mean that they were not involved,” retorted Laurent Nuñez on Tuesday.
Faced with these assertions, several deputies, notably from La France insoumise, returned to the charge by pointing out the presence of the ultra-right in these demonstrations. "Yes, the ultra-right is taking advantage of this type of movement to seek out the ultra-left. Yes, they wanted to take advantage of the situation. We saw them less on October 17, [more] on October 24 and even less on October 31", qualified the minister.
“I regret that there were these serious injuries”
First rapporteur to speak, Pouria Amirshahi, environmentalist deputy from Paris, asked a long question to Laurent Nuñez on the numerous investigations entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) and the General Inspectorate of the National Gendarmerie (IGGN), since the start of the high school movement in mid-September, and during the mobilizations of October 17, 24 and 31. Pouria Amirshahi recalled that high school students had their hands torn off and others had their eyes cut. “I regret that there were these serious injuries,” replied the Minister of the Interior.
Asked more specifically about the case of Evan, a 15-year-old high school student, whose hand was torn off by a stun grenade during a blockade of his establishment in Lens (Pas-de-Calais), on October 5, he nevertheless accepted the use of this type of weapon. “The context for the force’s engagement was met,” assured Laurent Nuñez.
Second rapporteur, Roger Vicot, socialist deputy from the North, then questioned him about defense ball throwers (LBD), blamed for serious injuries. “Does the LBD continue to be adapted to what happens in public spaces and demonstrations?” asked the parliamentarian. While Laurent Nuñez responded, indicating that for him it was "the only intermediate weapon" allowing "to target a particular person", the deputy La France insoumise du Nord Ugo Bernalicis intervened, provoking the wrath of the minister.
“If every time I speak, you have to interrupt me… That’s enough! (…) You are constantly provocative!”, he exclaimed. Once calm had returned, Laurent Nuñez estimated that "ongoing investigations" would make it possible to judge "proportionality (...) which is assessed with regard to the context and not the consequences".
