Violence of May 1: Darmanin castigates Mélenchon’s “silence”, which gives him “100%” responsibility

2023-05-02 11:47:23

Can we prevent violence in demonstrations? Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Insoumise, as well as the deputies Jérôme Guedj (PS) and Alexis Corbière (LFI) doubt it. In the aftermath of a still strong mobilization on May 1 against the raising of the retirement age to 64, the left and the government blame each other for the sometimes violent clashes in several cities in France, mainly Paris, Nantes and Lyons.

Invited this Tuesday on RMC, Gérald Darmanin denounced the “silence” of the left-wing opposition to him in the face of attacks on the police. This violence “has nothing to do with retirement, moreover some of the police are against the reform. It has nothing to do with it, so why doesn’t the entire political class condemn this violence? The Minister of the Interior particularly targeted Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Insoumise. His “silence” “makes him complicit,” he says.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon immediately replied to him in a tweet: “The preserve the order yesterday once again turned into absurd general violence. Darmanin is 100% responsible. This is why he wants to transfer his responsibility to others. »

Yesterday’s “policing” once again turned into absurd general violence. #Darmanin is 100% responsible. This is why he wants to transfer his responsibility to others. The police should be wary of such a lamentable leader.

— Jean-Luc Melenchon (@JLMelenchon) May 2, 2023

“I did not hear Mr. Mélenchon condemn this violence, also criticized on LCI the boss of LR senators, Bruno Retailleau. On the contrary, we really feel a form of complicity and that is what is extremely serious”. According to him, rebellious France “does not want to bring down the pension reform, but the Fifth Republic”.

Within the RN, the vice-president of the party, Sébastien Chenu, also attacked the leader of LFI on France Inter: “I do not believe when I speak to you that I have heard the far left, Mr. Mélenchon or his friends, condemn this violence. It is serious for our country”.

“Can’t we unplug them?” »

Other LFI officials, on the other hand, condemned the violence against the police and against the demonstrators. “It’s morally detestable for people who go to demonstrations with a Molotov cocktail,” MP Alexis Corbière said on RMC. “Me, I am for popular demonstrations where we all go there together with old people, with kids”.

But the elected official wonders about the effectiveness of prevention, knowing that the territorial intelligence announces in advance the number and the planned armament of the black blocks. “They announce the number of people who will go and that there will be pyrotechnic systems,” he explains. So I imagine that these ultra-I-don’t-know-what-violent circles are infiltrated by the police. Can’t we unplug them? “, he questioned.

“Upstream, if someone prepares a weapon and if he is followed by the police to such an extent that territorial intelligence can know what he is preparing, perhaps it would not be uninteresting for there to be a particular follow-up, because a Molotov cocktail is a weapon, ”added the deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis.

On Public Senate, the deputy Jérôme Guedj (PS) also questioned the device. “We had been told for several days: there will be 1,000 or 2,000 black blocks present in these demonstrations and they were there, ”said Jérôme Guedj on Public Sénat. The MP for Essonne raises “the question of efficiency, prevention, detection, identification upstream and how to contain these Black blocks, to prevent them from being harmful to the social movement “.

“Debrained Cretins”

Invited on franceinfo this Tuesday morning, the prefect of police of Paris Laurent Nuñez explained why it was impossible for the police to prevent “the ultras from entering a demonstration”: “There must be an offense”, recalls he.

The deputy from Essonne also deplores that “the government plays and overplays this permanent questioning, saying: you have not condemned, it is therefore that you are complacent “. ” That’s enough (…). There anyway, it’s with big hooves, ”he was annoyed. Describing the thugs as “brainless cretins”, he regretted that they were mentioned “from the outset instead of talking about the extent of the mobilization”.

A total of 540 people were arrested in France, including 305 in Paris, during the demonstrations on May 1, and 406 police and gendarmes were injured, according to the Minister of the Interior.