France’s interior minister Gerald Darmanin has been “conspiring” with police officials to sabotage the legal underpinnings of the French Republic, senior Socialist Party MP Olivier Faure has alleged.
The left-wing politician has now demanded that Darmanin resign his position after apparently accepting police demands for increased legal protection.
Faure expressed anger over the decision, arguing that it amounted to “undermining the separation of powers” within the country.
Il y a aujourd’hui un triumvirat qui défie la République. Ils doivent démissionner. Le sujet, c’est le rétablissement de l’autorité de l’Etat.@EmmanuelMacron nous a dit : l’ordre, l’ordre, l’ordre. Et bien qu’il commence par remettre de l’ordre dans sa propre maison. pic.twitter.com/W6hl0VuPIV
— Olivier Faure (@faureolivier) July 28, 2023
“Today there is a triumvirate that defies the Republic,” he said, accusing Darmanin, National Police director Frédéric Veaux and Paris police prefect Laurent Nuñez of conspiring to undermine the nation’s rule of law.
“All three defy the Republic’s rules, the great principles that govern us, the independence of justice, the separation of powers, the equality of citizens before the law,” he added, calling for them all to resign.
His call for Darmanin to leave his post comes after the minister appeared to bow to demands issued by French police unions, which have been calling for officers to receive enhanced legal protection under French law.
This allegedly includes “special” treatment when an officer is suspected of a crime, with police unions having demanded the government make officers exempt from pre-trial detention if they are suspected of committing an offence while working.
Threatening to go on strike if their demands were not met, it appears that the French President Emmanuel Macron’s government has chosen to appease the police unions, a decision that has caused considerable anger among the country’s left-wing members.
“Darmanin’s message to the police this evening is clear: ‘We are afraid of you. We are at your command and not the other way around’,” La France Insoumise (LFI) MP Mathilde Panot wrote online, describing the minister’s decision to side with the police as “catastrophic”.
Manon Aubry, an MEP for the LFI stated that, after his apparent appeasement, the only thing Darmanin could to do with any pride would be to resign.
