Emmanuel Macron and the government have transformed the police of France into “repressive organ”, judging by the latest poll. At the very least, this impression is growing among the French, revealed an Ifop poll published by magazine L’Express, on Wednesday, January 29.
According to this poll, only 43 percent of those polled have “confidence” in the police. This is 7 points lower than last August, and a historically low level.
According to Jérôme Fourquet of Ifop, “the institution would be wrong to think that it has ad vitam aeternam sympathy to bank on with the population”. Because “the police appear more and more like a repressive organ in the service of an unpopular government,” he noted.
The causes of this disenchantment are mainly to be found in police violence in recent months, committed during the demonstrations of Yellow Vests and those in opposition to the pension reform.
Another factor, according to Jérôme Fourquet: the police are confronted with other individuals than has been the case until now. People whose “fate means more” to others.
It is no longer young people from the suburbs like previously or even Yellow Vests who take a risk by rubbing shoulders with thugs, but trade unionists and students, he told L’Express.
The trade unionist Linda Kebbab, of the SGP Police FO Unit, admitted that the police were “losing the battle of image and opinion”. “The executive and the institution never denounces fake news. We are paying for it,” she added.