Well, so much for the police taking off their helmets and joining the Gilets Jaunes. If anything, direct orders (and bribery in the form of some payment of unpaid overtime and a 300 euro bonus) form the highest strata of government are instilling much fervor and zeal among the police forces.
Here is the low-down. I have gleaned the following info from a number of sources. ***
If an ex-special services officer (Gille Sacaze - see ***) is embarrassed by the unprecedented level of police violence, maybe we need to pay attention. He observes that the role of the police has shifted from serving the people to serving the state. As an aside, police offices used to be called “gardiens de la paix” (Peace keepers), now they are referred to as “les forces de l’ordre” (the forces of order) - much can be inferred from semantics-. Cazave also commented that police repression is used to the exclusion of any political solution (Macron’s so-called Great National Debate does not address any of the Gilets Jaunes’ concerns is is essentially an exercise in masturbatory oration in front of a carefully selected audience). Bottom line for Sacaze: the police is showing precisely what not to do.
So, what are the numbers?
More than 5000 arbitrary arrests, with an unusually low ratio of 250 or so indictments.
12 dead. Most of them are collateral casualties from traffic stoppages etc.
Two notable cases. One Gilet Jaune was run over by a truck driver apparently on purpose according to eye-witnesses. As far as I know the driver was charged, but I have been unable to find an update.
The second case is an eighty-year-old woman who was hit by shrapnel while closing her shutters. She died at the hospital shortly thereafterOver 2500 wounded.
I won’t mention the women who have been dragged by the hair, older people (who obviously are more vulnerable) who are gassed and knocked to the ground, people who are kicked in the head while they are down or clubbed gratuitously.
The type of injuries is shocking and are due primarily to tear gas grenades and golf-ball sized rubber bullets. Teeth knocked out, fractured jaws, hands blown off, eyes lost. The most noteworthy aspect of this is the unusually high ratio of head injuries that seems to indicated that the police is aiming at the head and the face.
115 facial injuries, including 18 eyes lost
4 hands severed or blown-up
At least one loss of hearing
Here is the picture of Jérôme Rodrigue who was filming the demonstration yesterday. He is pretty well known for his appearances on the MSM as a Gilet Jaune and for his posts on YouTube.
His live feed is here, up to a little after he was shot. He was going about his business filming, some other Gilets Jaunes recognized him, said hi, and he warned insistently the Gilets Jaunes to get out of there because the Black Blocs were causing trouble. He was shot in the head from a very short distance, and from what he is saying, a tear gas grenade was thrown at his feet pretty much at the same time.
For good measure I want to add this picture of a soldier on leave who was on his way from a restaurant to a nightclub with some friends (picture lifted off a FB post by Guillaume Apparailly - according to him the police shot three times at the crowd).
You can see a lot of heartbreaking pictures if you click on the Mur Jaune link at the end of this post. They are hard to look at. These are the faces and the limbs of a police state. These Gilets Jaunes who exercised their protected right to demonstrate are maimed for life. If this happened in Russia, the MSM would be all over it. There is a conspiracy of silence, hence this post. In France this conspiracy of silence is starting to crumble a little, even though the narrative of the violent demonstrators is still the main one.
Police injuries? mmmmm… Nothing comparable
Meanwhile, Macron is tweeting his support to the people in the streets cheering in Venezuela!
Next Saturday 2nd February is a call for the Gilets Jaunes to demonstrate in front of police stations and “préfectures” (the regional police administrative headquarters) for the “Mutilés pour l’exemple” (“Maimed to make an example out of them”)
In closing, here is a comparative chart of the weapons used by the French police compared to their European counterparts:
*** These are some of the sources:
- Gilles Sacaze, specialist in urban peace-keeping and ex-member of the DGSE (for those who are interested here is a link in English https://www.defense.gouv.fr/english/dgse/tout-le-site/who-we-are) in an interview with Aude Lancelin on the alternative site Le Media
- Interviews with David Dufresne, a journalist specialist of police violence
- Articles in French: https://reporterre.net/Le-terrible-bilan-de-deux-mois-
de-viole - French Website “Le Mur Jaune”, which means “The Yellow Wall” http://lemurjaune.fr/?fbclid=IwAR3TI-s1KZO316UWoRI2m619HsY1lF2ZRh6kAFSMthtZGhOarQ7mqz2_ovI , where a picture is worth more than a thousand words