The police unions oppose each other: the Alliance union supports the line defended by the Minister of the Interior who does not want to communicate the figures of the case after the soccer victory by Algeria on July 14, but the SGP Unity union speaks of “fake excuses” .

Christophe Castaner announced on July 15 that the authorities would not communicate the figures of the case of July 14 (8456 burned cars) so as not to incite additional excesses on July 19 during the final of the African Cup of Nations soccer match (CAN). Beauvau [The French interior ministry HQ] preferred to communicate only the number of people who were arrested that night: 282. This choice not to communicate, however, provoked controversy within professional police representatives, after provoking another protest in the French political class .

“We do not give ground and we assume our responsibilities. It is always the same thing and it brings [the perps] nothing,” explained the entourage of the [interior] minister, Christophe Castaner, and, joined by AFP [ = “French Press Agency”], Frédéric Lagache, general delegate of the Alliance police union, stood with the latter and declared: “It’s a decision that unfortunately has to be accepted. In the face of irresponsible jerks, it is better to avoid inciting a competition as to who can burn the most cars. “

 “No need to look for the real numbers. They are totally phony anyway.” 

On the contrary, Linda Kebbab, national delegate of the police union Unity-GSP-FO, also contacted by AFP, vituperates:

“The fear of triggering a car-burning competition is a fake excuse. The offenders do not go looking for old articles about the number of cars burned from previous years. To not put out the figures, is to erase the work of the police. “

A member of the Autonomous Collective of the police of Ile-de-France [Greater Paris], which defends the police officers in the field, estimates for its part that the media strategy of the Ministry of the Interior falls under “withholding needed information” and regrets that the ministry focuses always on the Paris region “while the provinces have also been the scene of depredations and urban violence”.

And they quote as one example: “In Evreux, we were taken to task and more than a hundred grenades were sent to the police during the evening. But nobody talks about what’s going on in the regions outside Paris, apart from the local press, of course … Apparently, we should not say that the suburbs [non-whites] and sensitive sectors [euphemism for non-white city neighborhoods] are ready to burn at any moment, despite our warnings !”

Jean-Pierre Colombies, a retired police commander and spokesman for the Union of Independent National Police, prefers to ay both to those who want the figures of the case and those who would keep them all confidential:

“It is useless to seek the real figures, because they are totally phony anyway, and this for several reasons: on the one hand the department systematically underestimates the nubmer of burnings, and, on the other hand, opportunists who can no longerafford car insurance also set fire to their cars to scam their insurance company during outbreaks of violence.

Moreover, the lowlifes are also engaged in number-of-cars competitions trying to see who can be worse from one suburb to another … “

In 2017 and 2018, the number of cars burned on French territory on July 14 amounted to 897 and 845, according to official data. In 2019, the unofficial figures show 195 cars burned in Paris and the surrounding area …

Is the number of cars being set on fire in France just too huge now to be admitted by the politicians in power? …. The question will arise again in the CAN final on July 19th. Will Interior Minister Christophe Castaner once again “take responsabilty” for not communicating these huge numbers to the French people?

Antoine Boitel