Three Insoumis deputies ask Darmanin to temporarily suspend this brigade mobilized in the face of demonstrations against the pension reform.
By Thibaut Deleaz and Erwan Seznec
© VINCENT GERBET / Hans Lucas via AFP
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” VSIt’s not policing, it’s a policy of terror,” thunders Antoine Léaument. The LFI deputy and two of his colleagues, Thomas Portes and Ugo Bernalicis, sent a letter, revealed by France info, to the Minister of the Interior on Wednesday March 22 to request the “provisional dismantling” of the Brav-M, a criticized unit of law enforcement. The elected officials accuse her of being involved in violence against demonstrators, on the basis of videos and testimonies.
They refer in particular to a video widely shared on social networks Monday, March 20 in the evening, where a policeman from this unit punched a Parisian demonstrator, who collapsed on the ground. Asked about this on BFMTV, the prefect of police Laurent Nuñez said he “need to contextualize”. A preliminary investigation was entrusted to the IGPN the next day.
Motorcycle pairs
These motorized violent action repression brigades (Brav-M) were created in March 2019 in the midst of the Yellow Vests crisis, in a context of diffuse riots, where the police faced small, very mobile groups. Composed of pairs on motorcycles, which evolve in groups of 20 to 40, the Brav-M were immediately assimilated to the platoons of motorized acrobats, created in 1968 and dissolved in 1986, following the death of a demonstrator, Malik Oussekine. They are not supposed to intervene on a motorcycle, this is simply a means of transport.
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The black blocks fear them. During the march organized in Paris by LFI on October 16, 2022, the simple approach of the Brav-Ms was enough to deter a group of thugs who were targeting a BNP agency, boulevard Saint-Antoine. The pairs on motorcycles had not intervened that day, standing back in an adjacent street, engines on.
In the context of demonstrations against the pension reform, which have given rise every evening since the use of 49.3 to mobilizations punctuated by damage and clashes with the police, the Brav-M “is a particularly suitable unit “, Estimated Laurent Nuñez on France info. And to close the door at the request of the LFI deputies, although addressed directly to Gérald Darmanin: “I will certainly not propose to the Minister of the Interior to dissolve this brigade. »
A petition to the Assembly
“What is the interest for the maintenance of order to go stick a donut to a demonstrator? asks Antoine Léaument. L’Insoumis advocates “a technique of de-escalation” for the supervision of demonstrations, rather than “stirring up tensions”. The police union Alliance recalls that the police are currently acting in a context of “violent riots with mortars, paving stones and incendiary devices”. Videos of alleged violence should always be treated with caution.
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The three LFI deputies will also file a petition on the National Assembly platform this Wednesday. If it collects at least 500,000 signatures, the subject can be placed on the agenda of the committee concerned, in this case that of laws, of which they are members. “This would allow for a discussion on the subject, hopes Antoine Léaument, who considers himself to be “fully in [son] role of parliamentarian by controlling the action of the government”.