Skip to main content
France

Angry police demonstrations put Sarkozy and Hollande on the spot

The shooting of a serial offender by a policeman near Paris on Saturday has become a presidential campaign issue after President Sarkozy called for a change in the law to allow the presumption of legitimate self defense for policemen unless proven otherwise.  

AFP PHOTO BERTRAND LANGLOIS
Advertising

The move follows a protest by hundreds of angry policemen in Paris on Wednesday over the arrest of a colleague for voluntary homicide in the northern suburb of Bobigny.

Both Sarkozy and his Socialist rival François Hollande have since met with representatives of the police force over the killing.

The arrested policeman claims he was pursuing a fugitive when he was confronted with an armed man who flung a grenade at him. He fired four shots at the man who died shortly afterward.

The policeman pleaded self-defence. But an autopsy on the victim showed he had been shot in the back and the grenade was a dud.

The incident was raised with both candidates in separate interviews on French television on Thursday night just ten days before the final round of the presidential election on 6 May.
Sarkozy defended his move to journalists saying it was not giving policemen a “licence to kill”.

Hollande said he backed police unions' calls to uphold the presumption of innocence, which allows officers to keep working during an investigation, but saw no need to back a call to institute a presumption of legitimate defense.

He emphasised he was not in favour of announcing new legislation every time there was an incident or a single news story.

Meanwhile, Marine Le Pen, the head of the far-right Front National party, says Sarkozy’s proposal for the presumption of legitimate self-defense for policemen comes directly from her party’s manifesto.

Claiming an “idealogical victory”, she said each day Sarkozy was “digging deeper into her own proposals.”

Le Pen’s party won nearly 18 per cent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election on 22 April and attracting the votes of FN supporters could be key to who will win the presidency.

 

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.