Angry French police officers on Saturday held a sixth day of national demonstrations in protest over dilapidated and inadequate equipment, undermanning, recurrent attacks on officers, and what they describe as the leniency of sentencing judges, all in a context of the exceptional demands placed on them for anti-terrorism operations. The movement, which has wrongfooted the government and taken even police union officials by surprise, was prompted by a horrific petrol-bomb attack on several officers earlier this month in a Paris suburb. President François Hollande has now announced he will meet with representatives of the officers next week. As Loup Espargilière reports, the angry protests illustrate a deep disquiet across the ranks which has now become a political hot potato ahead of next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
French President François Hollande said Friday he will meet with police officers' representatives on Monday after dozens of street protests by officers increased around the country this week, sparked buy a horrific firebomb attack earlier this month on a police patrol car, demanding more personnel and material means amid the increased pressure of anti-terrorism operations.
Police officers angry at increasing attacks against them - the latest in the form of Molotov cocktails thrown into a patrol car, leaving a policewoman badly burned and her male colleague in a critical condition - have held fresh demonstrations in which they cprotested against under-staffing and inadequate equipment.
The Belgian ambassador to France was on Thursday summoned to explain why the two arrested police officers had crossed the border with 13 migrants in their vehicle.
For the past ten years, a European Union-funded mission in the West Bank is training the Palestinian police in modern policing methods. With police instructors from EU member states, the EUPOL COPPS mission is aimed at building an effective police force ahead of the possible creation of a Palestinian state. But the challenges are vast, and the programme’s future is uncertain. Mediapart correspondent Chloé Demoulin reports from the West Bank mission, beginning with the unusual scene of a lesson by French riot police on how to disperse a peaceful sit-in.
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