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France - Security

Police protest rising number of attacks against officers

The head of the national police force in France is to carry out an investigation into why hundreds of police officers demonstrated on Paris’ Champs Elysées on Tuesday night.

Around 500 police officers in plain clothes take part in a protest on the Champs-Elysees avenue overnight on October 18, 2016 in Paris, after four officers were injured when a group of youths swarmed their cars on October 8 in Viry-Chatillon and lobbed Mol
Around 500 police officers in plain clothes take part in a protest on the Champs-Elysees avenue overnight on October 18, 2016 in Paris, after four officers were injured when a group of youths swarmed their cars on October 8 in Viry-Chatillon and lobbed Mol AFP
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The demonstration, which involved hundreds of police officers, was undertaken without the backing of police unions, or police bosses.

Those taking part in the demonstration say they were protesting about lack of resources to tackle crime, and a growing number of attacks on police officers.

Jean-Marc Falcone, director of France’s national police force, condemned the “inacceptable behaviour” of a handful of officers, announcing he was opening a public investigation into the matter.

The protest follows an attack earlier this month in which four officers were injured in a Paris suburb when their vehicles were set ablaze by incendiary bombs.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said at the time that two officers "were violently attacked with incendiary bombs while they were on a surveillance mission in the Grande Borne high security zone".

"Their colleagues who came to back them up were also targeted," he said, describing the attack as "extremely serious and very cowardly".

Police described the weapons used as Molotov cocktails. They said two of the officers were rushed to hospital with “major burns”.
"We're sick of hearing about colleagues getting attacked," one anonymous officer told the BFM TV channel.

"And on top of it all, it feels like we're getting no emotional response from the government."

 

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