"The physical and moral fatigue was at its highest threshold, forcing us to act far beyond our capacities," wrote Brigadier Benoît A. in a report to his superiors, consulted by Agence France-Presse, on Friday March 7. Identified in an audio recorded without their knowledge, BRAV-M police officers who threatened and humiliated seven young people arrested in Paris at the end of March, pleaded "physical and moral fatigue" to justify their actions after a day of maintaining the order for more than ten hours.
Since the adoption of the pension reform by article 49.3, on March 16, the streets of the capital have been the scene of undeclared gatherings with burning of garbage cans and streets obstructed by makeshift barricades. On the night of March 20 to 21, Benoît A's crew, the "Brav Mike 4", is in operation in the 3rd arrondissement of the capital.
On the instructions of a police captain, officers from the motorcycling violent action repression brigade (BRAV-M) arrest seven young people suspected of having taken part in the degradations and gather them at the corner of the streets of Béarn and Minis. It was at this moment that one of the arrested discreetly recorded the police.
Two investigations opened, entrusted to the IGPN
The audio, revealed on March 24 by Le Monde and Loopsider, sparked an outcry and led to the opening of two investigations, administrative and judicial, entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).
Before being heard by the police, the police officers involved delivered their version to their hierarchy. According to peacekeeper Yann C., the unit began duty at 10:30 a.m. It was past 11 p.m. when they checked in.
Non-commissioned officer Benoît A. describes "sessions [lasting] fourteen hours, even sixteen hours" during which "our basic and vital needs were not respected, hydrating and eating was very complicated", writes -he. The crew members had to "take medicine" because they had "no time [to] go to the toilet", he adds.
"To the end", "increasingly tired and irritable", "on edge", police officer Pierre L. admits that he did not act "with the usual professionalism". He is the one we hear throwing at one of the arrested: "It's the first one who has a hard-on who buggers the other. The official sees "no sexual connotation", but "a verbal cockfight". He didn't want to "let the individual feel superior and win this game."
The man arrested is called Souleyman and concentrates the attacks of the police. Almost all of the crew, such as peacekeeper Victor L., explain their behavior as a reaction to "his arrogance and [to] his provocations as a whole".
"You cried like a little girl," mocks Brigadier Benoît A. A "clumsy" sexist remark, he admits after the fact.
The agents concerned have not been suspended
Regarding the slap mentioned by Souleyman, to which an audible snap in the recording may correspond, Pierre L. claims to have simply "repelled him by the face". "Perhaps you want one to set your jaw straight?" “, we hear him say.
Police officer Yanis A. asks Souleyman, a 23-year-old Chadian student, if he "cling to the wing of the plane" when he arrived in France four years ago. A way, he says in his report, to "decompress".
"Tomorrow you have an OQTF [obligation to leave the territory, editor's note] and it's over", also throws the policeman Théo R to him. It was not "an intimidation", he writes, but "to inform him legal risks". And when he learns that the young man lives in Saint-Denis, the same has fun: "That's good, we're going there on Wednesday, we'll find [you]". "I meant by that [that] since this is his place of residence and that we are there sometimes, it is not impossible that we cross his path, without saying that we will harass him", he justifies.
Since the events, the officers concerned are no longer assigned to law enforcement operations, according to the police headquarters, but they have not been suspended.
The judicial investigation targeting these police "will be carried out fairly quickly", said the prefect of police Laurent Nunez on Sunday. “I want it so that I can make administrative decisions if necessary. »
"It does not appear to me that fatigue is a cause for exonerating criminal liability. On the other hand, it can engage the criminal responsibility of the prefect himself in view of the intensity of the operations he ordered, "reacted Me Arié Alimi, lawyer for Souleyman and another protester.
