As our colleagues from “Liberation” remind us, the dispatch of these police forces is linked to a partnership signed between Paris and Doha, in 2021.
By ThePoint.fr
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Uco-operation that could well make one cringe. According to our colleagues from ReleaseWednesday October 5, Paris decided to send more than 200 gendarmes on Qatari soil on the occasion of the next Football World Cup, scheduled from November 20 to December 18, 2022. As a result of an agreement, the sending of such a contingent comes at a time when calls for a boycott are piling up, due to criticism about respect for human rights in Qatar and the environmental cost of such a competition.
In detail, 191 soldiers will be sent to the emirate, ahead of the competition. The goal? Train Qatari law enforcement to maintain order of a world-class sports competition. A first for the small country of only 11,571 km², the equivalent of the Gironde department. Concretely, out of all the soldiers sent, there will be about twenty members of the GIGN, the rest being made up of gendarmes trained in the fight against drones. On the sidelines of this contingent, a handful of police officers – around ten – anti-hooligans will be present.
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A partnership signed in March 2021
This cooperation comes as no surprise. Indeed, it is the result of an agreement signed between Paris and Doha on March 15, 2021, which is due to enter into force on March 1er next November. However, on August 4, the ratification of the text had been stormy. The elected representatives of the left and the National Rally expressing their opposition to such a partnership. As a result, it had been validated by the deputies with a fairly narrow majority: 154 for, 126 against, recalls Release. And this, while the absolute majority was set at 141 votes.
France is far from the only country to have reached an agreement with Qatar for the next FIFA World Cup. Indeed, the United Kingdom is also a stakeholder. Beyond the collaboration around the sporting event, the philosophy of such an agreement is above all to strengthen relations between the two countries, defends the French executive, reports Release citing the Ministry of the Interior.
A defense that may well not convince. In recent weeks, critics have fused against the next World Cup. In question, a disastrous human toll. During the construction of the various stadiums, there would have been between 3,000 and 6,500 deaths, report international NGOs. At the same time, in the midst of energy sobriety, the existence of air-conditioned stadiums seems to pose a real problem.