The sequence lasts more than twenty minutes, recorded discreetly by the member of a group of six people arrested, Monday March 20, at the corner of the streets of Minimes and Béarn, in the 3e district of Paris. Between comments of a sexual nature, slaps, threats and boasts, this sound document, which The world was able to authenticate, throws a harsh light on the behavior of civil servants in total contradiction with the rules of ethics as much as with the law.
That evening, several damages were committed in the surroundings during a new night of protest against the recourse, Thursday, March 16, to article 49.3 by the government to have the pension reform adopted without a vote. Called to carry out arrests of rioters, who have taken the habit, for several days, of dispersing in small groups and setting fire to garbage cans – direct confrontations with the police are rather rare – a unit Brigades for the Repression of Motorized Violent Action (BRAV-M) manages to apprehend half a dozen young people, without it being possible to establish, for the moment, their participation in the incidents.
A photo, taken at the time, shows about fifteen civil servants, recognizable in particular by their white motorcycle helmets, in their usual outfit which borrows as much from the uniform of “Robocop” of the CRS as from the equipment of n’ any biker. Surrounding several young people sitting on the sidewalk, their backs to the front of a disused business, several of these officials indulge in remarks and attitudes liable to criminal prosecution, in particular against a young man, “the only black in the group”, says one of the young people arrested. Several of them did not know each other before this episode.
“Do you know you have a real slap in the face? »a policeman told him, while in the sound background voices demanded details on the number of people arrested. “If you want, I’ll take you alone”continues the policeman, before intimating silence to the young man, who tries to answer: ” Shut up. »
“Erase your smile”
The remarks of several officials, very clearly audible, without the slightest doubt being possible as to the quality of those who uttered them, are pronounced in the same tone, alternating threats, intimidation, small remarks on the abilities of the arrested in boxing and warlike bravado. Thus, five minutes and forty seconds after the start of the recording, one of the policemen let himself go: “You’re so lucky to be sitting there, now that you’ve been arrested, I swear, I literally broke your legs… I can tell you we broke some, elbows and mouths (…), but you, I would have farted your legs. »
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