The Head of State chaired a tribute ceremony on Thursday at the Roubaix National Police School, from which the three officers killed on Sunday came.
by IM with AFP
© ANDREA SAVORANI NERI / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
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Paul, Steven and Manon received the insignia of the Legion of Honor posthumously. These three young police officers, who worked at the Roubaix police station, were killed on Sunday in a road accident, while accompanying a woman victim of violence to be examined at the hospital. Emmanuel Macron went to the North this Thursday, May 25 to award them this medal and preside over a tribute ceremony at the Roubaix National Police School. He was accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron and the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin. Emmanuel Macron denounced the “behaviours that kill”, recalling that the death of these three police officers had been caused by “an alcoholic driver and under the influence of narcotics”, and affirming his “respect” and his “affection” to “those who serve and protect.
“In front of the pain of their families, in front of the pain of their colleagues, in front of the mourning of the French, silence should be enough. But talking about them is becoming necessary to pay homage to their destiny, to show respect and affection to those who serve and protect, and to denounce irresponsible behavior that kills, “said the Head of State in the courtyard of the national school. North City Police Department.
In addition, the President of the Republic wanted to extend his tribute to all State agents who were victims of violence, after having denounced the day before in the Council of Ministers a form of “decivilization”. He notably cited the premeditated murder on Monday of a nurse at the Reims University Hospital by a man suffering from schizophrenia and paranoia.
The President of the Republic thus greeted “all those who risk their lives and sometimes lose them to save so many others”, during this ceremony. “The national police officers, the gendarmes, the municipal police officers, the firefighters, the first aiders, the nurses, the doctors, the teachers and so many others, all those who, in the humility of service, take care of our compatriots and protect deserve respect and consideration,” he said. The Head of State deplored that “too many of our public officials” have been “swept away in the exercise of their mission in recent years”, and extended his tribute to “all those who, in their task every day, ostensibly serve the French”.
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“Too many drivers, too many murderers”
During questions to the government on Wednesday in the Senate, Gérald Darmanin described as “murderer” the driver of the car who hit the police vehicle, himself died in the accident. “This accident took place during a rescue intervention for victims, which illustrates the heart of the mission incumbent on them. An everyday mission where the police intervene to protect the French people, ”said the presidency on Wednesday.
“This killer […] – because you have to use the words that count – not only killed three destinies, but injured the entire national police,” the minister said. “Too many drivers, too many murderers kill on the roads under the influence of narcotics and alcohol,” he pointed out.
The facts date back to Sunday morning, when an Alfa Romeo traveling in the wrong direction hit the police car which was transporting, in addition to the three young police officers, a 16-year-old girl whom they were taking to see a doctor after violence which she had denounced in the night. The girl was seriously injured in the accident. The 24-year-old driver of the Alfa Romeo has died. His 23-year-old passenger was seriously injured.
Twelve members of the police have died in the past 15 years in multi-murderous accidents for the police, the last of which, which occurred on April 11 in the Landes, cost the lives of two gendarmes who were trying to control a dangerously fast-moving vehicle.