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Rare aerial shots of La Lanterne by the Abaca photo agency. Photo supplied
Versailles

Police protest against static guard of Macron’s secret retreat

Fourteen French policemen from the Versailles police station are on sick leave in opposition to their working conditions. One of their missions is to ensure the protection of the president at his secretive retreat.

Published: October 1, 2019, 11:08 am

    Policemen from the police station of Versailles (Yvelines) are protesting, in particular, because they have to guard the presidential residence La Lanterne rather than to go on their security missions. This is what Le Parisien revealed in two articles published on Saturday, September 28 and Monday.

    According to the newspaper, fourteen officials are therefore on sick leave, since they do not have the right to strike. “Our working conditions have been degraded, relief police missions are not carried out to benefit static guards, our police force relief are down and our colleagues feel a sense of abandonment. This week-end, 70 percent of the emergency police force was missing because of sick leave. We have ceased to alert the authorities to the seriousness of the situation as we have not been heard,” said François Bersani of the Parisian SGP Police unit.

    Among the static guard missions in question, is the protection of Emmanuel Macron when he is at the La Lanterne and that of Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate, at Rambouillet. They must also monitor sick prisoners during transfers to the André-Mignot hospital in Chesnay. The agents therefore demand reinforcements and also that specialized services, such as the Republican Guard, take care of the security of personalities.

    “It’s systematic! Since the election of Emmanuel Macron, we have never stopped. Every weekend, if he is not abroad, he is there. And doing it is a mission that does not really fit our work. We stay in a car for eight hours without being able to go to the toilet and without being able to eat,” a police officer explained to the Paris newspaper.

    “When our colleagues watch the president at La Lanterne during the weekend, they do not have the necessary amenities, they can not take a break. This situation is detrimental to their health. We are asking for a reinforcement of twenty policemen in the emergency service in Versailles,” Alliance union delegate Julien Le Cam told le Parisien.

    “We have dynamic wardens guarding the hospital for bedridden prisoners. We make sure that none of these missions last no more than three days and that if not, the prisoners are transferred to hospital prisons,” said a source close to the police department of Yvelines.

    Emmanuel Macron’s regular trips to the presidential residence of La Lanterne at Versailles have forced the police to deploy units there that would be more useful elsewhere.

    The police unions are fed up. According to Paris Match, the frequent stays of the Head of State at the presidential residence of La Lanterne pose huge problems to the various units.

    And for good reason, every weekend, or almost, patrols are requisitioned at the home in Versailles. The use of static guards particularly annoy the unions. “It’s not the guards in themselves that denounce this,” says Julien Le Cam, union delegate Alliance Yvelines. “It’s the impact it has on police-relief. While there are already few teams on the weekend, who loses? It’s public safety,” he said.

    In total, three patrols are deployed each time the president comes, made up of six police officers. They are in charge of the outside of the domain, while the security group of the Presidency of the Republic (GSPR) deals with the interior. “It lowers the operationality of the whole department,” the delegate Unit-SGP police, Cyril Thiboust said. “At times in Versailles, there is only one patrol, even zero over the weekend.”

    Located on a four-hectare estate with swimming pool and tennis court, this former residence of the Prime Ministers was turned into a retreat by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. His successor François Hollande quickly took a liking to the place, according to Julien Le Cam. “And now, with Macron, it’s every weekend,” he explained.

    “Let’s stop deploying police-relief,” a police officer at the police station in Versailles said. According to him, in 2018, “40 percent of the working time of Versailles units was devoted to static guards”. He said they rather “want to work”.

    But the Versailles police is not the only station affected. Senate President Gérard Larcher is also entitled to a patrol every time he goes to his private home in Rambouillet. “Even when Gérard Larcher goes out […] to go hunting, a patrol must stay in front of his home. And when you mobilize a patrol, you mobilize all the staff of Rambouillet,” complained Julien Le Cam. “If there is a call to 17, it is our colleagues Elancourt that must move.”

    Built in 1787, La Lanterne is adjacent to the park of the Palace of Versailles. The 4-hectare estate is flanked by two wings and a main building, all in a U-shape. Each part measures about twenty meters long and six meters wide. On the ground floor there is a large living room, a dining room and an office. Upstairs, there are five bedrooms with their respective bathrooms. The right wing houses the staff quarters and the kitchen and the other serves the building security services.

    In 2008, the operating budget of the residence amounted to 200 000 euros, according to the accounts of the Elysée. Six years later, the cost rose to 260 000 euros, an increase of 30 percent. And in 2015, a budget investment of 330 000 euros for work appeared in the accounts of the Elysée but they “did not wish to explain what this line of investment” was.

    According to many connoisseurs, this is the most secret place in the Republic. Unlike the Elysée, this residence is not open to the public on heritage days. Moreover, the building is prohibited from overflight. In 2007, the pilot of a passenger plane was sentenced to pay 800 euros for flying over the property.

    Constantly protected by CRS, the ultra-private residence benefits from a wall of enclosure giving it the appearance of fortress.

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