A motorist resists police action every twenty minutes in France + video

Although French police officers have been allowed to use their service weapons if they feel threatened during traffic stops since 2017, they are less and less likely to do so. The threat, however, is increasing.

FRANCE-CRIME-POLICE-DEMO Fotó: CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU

The press has also compared the 2005 riots with the current protests. While in 2005, a total of 10,346 cars were set on fire in three weeks, this year the same figure has been 5,000 in only one week, local paper Ouest France  writes, citing figures by the Interior Ministry. However, a much higher number of buildings have been set on fire and damaged in the recent riots. That figure was 307 in 2005 and 1,000 this year, including several town halls, schools and other public buildings.

The material damage is significant. Florence Lustman, president of the association of French insurers, said that some 5,800 claims have been filed, and their total value is €75 million more than during the riots in 2005, Capital.fr reports. According to the newspaper, protesters have vandalized 243 schools, 250 tobacconists, 300 bank branches, 200 supermarkets and set fire to or damaged thousands of other buildings. In addition, the rioters attacked 269 police stations and set 12,400 garbage bins on fire.

The riots were particularly intense in the Ile-de-France region around Paris, where an estimated €20 million in damage was caused to buses and other vehicles. The French entrepreneurs and employers' organization Medef estimated the damage at €1 billion, including losses incurred by the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Almost 4,000 people have been arrested, more than a third of them minors, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. The average age of the young people was 17, but many of them were only 12-13 years old. The majority of those detained, 60 percent, had no criminal record. In total, 45,000 police officers were deployed, 800 of whom were injured during the clashes, compared with only 224 injuries back in 2005. These figures well illustrate the violence of the current riots.

The legality of police officers’ use of weapons when a driver refuses to cooperate during a traffic has come up in numerous debates recently. Under a 2017 law in France, police officers have the right to use their weapons if they feel that the driver poses a threat to their lives or physical safety. The law was amended after four police officers were injured, two of them seriously, when a dozen of people attacked their vehicles with Molotov cocktails in Viry Chatillon in October 2016.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that since the law was introduced, there have been fewer cases when police officer used their weapons and these resulted in fewer fatalities than before. Police officers used their weapons 202 times in 2017, followed by 170 in 2018, 147 in 2019, 153 in 2020 and 157 in 2021.

As regard fatalities, police action involving firearms resulted in 13 deaths in 2022, six more than the previous year, according to a report by the Public Senat television channel. In terms of resistance to police action, the French Road Safety Observatory (ONISR) has reported some surprising figures. There were 27,206 such cases in 2021, an increase of 2.4% compared to 2020, and a staggering 19.4% compared to 2017.

Speaking to the press in 2021, Gerald Darmanin said that a driver refused to cooperate with the authorities during a traffic stop every 20 minutes on average in France. He added that many police officers and gendarmes were injured by repeat offenders.

In October 2020, a policeman was critically injured when he was knocked over by a car whose driver refused to stop. The interior minister also reported the case on Twitter, adding that every effort was being made to catch the suspect, who had fled the scene.

Cette nuit, un policier a été violemment percuté par un véhicule en Essonne alors qu’il procédait à un contrôle, dans le cadre de son travail. Il est dans un état grave.
Je lui apporte tout mon soutien.
Tous les moyens sont mis en œuvre pour retrouver l’auteur en fuite.

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 14, 2020

Another police officer who was injured earlier told CNews that he wanted to stop the driver of a car that was blocking traffic, but the man did not stop the engine, but accelerated and pulled the officer with the car for several meters.

The policeman also said that he drew his service weapon but did not use it, despite being in danger. The officer suffered serious injuries and underwent several operations. He was in a wheelchair for three months during his rehabilitation.

The most recent incident when police officers injured during a traffic stop occurred on 18 June, barely a few days before the Nanterre riots, in the small town of Aubagne, near Marseille. A motorist refused to stop when instructed to do so by the police. After a chase, the two vehicles collided. Two officers were injured in the neck and a third in the knee, with the latter requiring emergency surgery, TF1 reported citing a police statement. 

The above cases suggest that French police officers are in a very difficult situation. If they use their weapons they could be held accountable, and if they do not, they could suffer serious injuries.

Meanwhile, the policeman shooting the teenager and his family cannot feel safe, as the weekly Oise Hebdo has made his name and address public. After the incident, IM Darmanin turned to the Public Prosecutor's Office, as the paper put the policeman's relatives in danger.

La « publication » Oise Hebdo publie des informations personnelles mettant en danger la vie de la famille du policier en détention. Malgré nos demandes de retrait de ce contenu irresponsable, celle-ci persiste. Je saisis le procureur de la République.

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) July 6, 2023

The post has since been deleted from Twitter.

Cover photo: French riot police near a burnt-out garbage bin (Photo: AFP/Clement Mahoudeau)