The French Police State Edges Towards Lethality Against Rioters

In the last few weeks we’ve featured several reports on the use of flash-balls against Yellow Vest protesters in France. These supposedly non-lethal weapons are alleged to be the humane alternative to the use of live ammunition against rioters. They can do significant damage, however; they have disfigured a number of protesters, and in several instances victims have lost the sight of an eye.

It seems inevitable that a weapon that can do that much damage will eventually kill somebody. The following video discusses the increasing use of dangerous weapons against protesters in France. French police and gendarmes now routinely use anti-riot weapons that are far more damaging than those used in any other Western European country.

As a matter of interest, the armored personnel carriers in this video appear to bear an insignia with the EU circle of stars, rather than the tricolore. They don’t yet seem to have the full logo of the European Gendarmerie Force (EUROGENDFOR or EUGENDFOR, as shown at right). However, I’m sure it will be a simple matter to convert them into a full EU operation when necessary. That will be useful to both Brussels and the French state: Latvian or Portuguese gendarmes probably won’t be as averse to shooting out the eyes of French protesters as native French troops might be.

Many thanks to Ava Lon for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

00:00   Saturday December 8th 2018 in Paris, for the first
00:04   time since the beginning of the Yellow Vests Movement armored vehicles
00:08   of the gendarmerie were deployed. The government
00:12   decided to reach for ‘heavy artillery’ against the protesters.
00:16   What the state isn’t saying is that some of those armored vehicles are equipped with
00:20   a weapon to be used in the last resort: a tear gas diffuser.
00:24   This information unveiled by Marianne was confirmed to us by a former mobile gendarme
00:29   [part of French Armed Forces]. As a matter of fact, he served in Kosovo at the end of the year 2000
00:33   where he drove the same armored vehicles that have been deployed
00:37   against the Yellow Vests in Paris. —I was in Kosovo Eulex
00:41   For the implementation of the mission from December 2008 to June 2009 with
00:45   Colonel Massiot. It definitely is CS [gas]: the 2-chlorobenzaldehyde malononitrile
00:49   or CS gas or ortho-chloro-benzalmalononitrile is a tear gas with the formula Cl6H4CHC(CN)2.
00:53   It’s therefore the same tear gas which is in the tear gas grenades
00:58   used against the protesters by the law enforcement. But the tear gas diffuser
01:02   is able to cover up to four hectares, the equivalent of four soccer fields.
01:06   And according to the communication service of the gendarmerie,
01:10   such a quantity of the gas isn’t dangerous at all. —It’s in form of powder
01:14   inside the armored vehicles. It’s more concentrated than a tear gas grenade.
01:18   [Gendarmerie Communication Services] “It’s highly unpleasant, especially given that, as I said,
01:22   it’s more concentrated than the classical [tear gas] grenade, but it’s not dangerous.
01:26   But you are not supposed to stay in that cloud. And anyway,
01:30   of course you don’t stay inside it, because it’s extremely unpleasant.” However,
01:34   for the Human Rights Physicians who studied the use of the tear gas
01:39   during conflicts across the world, the use of the tear gas diffuser
01:43   could be catastrophic even as a last resort.
01:47   It poses serious health dangers, and is especially
01:51   risky for people in the crowd who are vulnerable.
01:55   Meaning people who perhaps have pre-existing conditions
01:59   such as asthma, and also for sure for people
02:03   who have skin conditions, for example, and
02:08   in that case the use of tear gas
02:12   in a large quantities against a huge crowd
02:16   poses a health risk for certain,
02:20   and we recommend other methods which
02:24   aren’t this indiscriminate, and a weapon
02:28   that isn’t this dangerous and
02:32   or even possibly lethal for the protesters.
02:36   The NGO has especially studied the use of tear gas in Bahrain.
02:41   In 2011 the country went through a popular insurgency. In order to repress its population
02:45   the police used tear gas grenades, up to two thousand a day.
02:49   An intense use of the tear gas which allegedly caused the death
02:53   of at least thirty nine people, according to the Physicians for Human Rights.
02:57   It’s a chemical weapon; it’s recognized worldwide.
03:01   And since it’s forbidden as a war weapon,
03:05   being an arm that isn’t supposed
03:10   to kill people, but rather to suppress, to disperse a crowd,
03:14   it’s still classified as a chemical weapon.
03:18   One of the main manufacturers of the tear gas is a French company: Alsetex.
03:22   The European leader for the riot control products.
03:26   In May 2018 the company signed a new contract to supply the tear gas
03:30   to the police and the gendarmerie. An opaque company.
03:34   On their website, the display page isn’t accessible. And the company refuses
03:39   to communicate the exact composition of their tear gas. We
03:43   of course asked to meet one of the representatives of the company, but
03:47   we received no answer. Therefore here are questions we would like to ask to the company.
03:51   Could you tell us the exact composition of the tear gas you are manufacturing?
03:55  
03:59   Are you able to confirm that there is no risk for the people who are breathing this tear gas?
04:03   Thank you for your answers.
04:08   It’s therefore impossible to know the components
04:12   and the concentration of the tear gas produced by Alsetex,
04:16   and also its impact on the human body in the long run.
04:20   Despite this lack of information, it doesn’t prevent the intensive use
04:24   of the tear gas. Since the beginning of the Yellow Vest Movement
04:28   it’s their favorite weapon. On December 1 in Paris
04:32   more that eight thousand tear gas grenades were used against the Yellow Vests.
04:37   A danger for the protesters but also for the police officers who also don’t know
04:41   exactly what they are being exposed to. We met one of them. He wishes
04:45   to remain anonymous. We’ll call him Christophe. You aren’t going to hear his voice either, but it’s
04:49   his exact testimony. Christophe has been CRS [riot police] for more than 20 years. He’s responsible
04:53   for the weapons and the ammunition in his unit. He participated in all the Yellow Vest rallies,
04:57   so he used a lot of the tear gas grenades.
05:01   I would admit to you, that I served more than twenty years in the police, I’m used to the tear gas,
05:05   I know how to deal with its effects. There are people who are more resistant than others to the
05:10   effects of the gas, even in law enforcement. It can be useful if it’s used correctly.
05:14   To disperse hostile mobs. Yes, it’s enormous, the quantity of grenades that have been used.
05:18   Then, it’s not in the same place. In law enforcement we use the material
05:22   which is given to our disposition. It’s not we, the police officers, who decide that such or such
05:26   materiel… if tomorrow the government tells us: you don’t use tear gas any more,
05:30   we will take what we are given. You need at some point to stop blaming the police for
05:34   everything. And you need to see the government’s side.
05:38   Effectively, French law enforcement is the most armed in Europe from the standpoint of riot control.
05:42   It’s incidentally the only country on the continent using the instantaneous tear gas grenade,
05:47   the famous GLIF 4, a weapon which
05:51   delivers an explosive charge made of 25g TNT in addition to the tear gas.
05:55   Classified “dangerous”, it is forbidden in other European countries.
05:59   We tried several times to contact the Interior Ministry and the police prefecture
06:03   in order to understand why our peace guardians had had such a need
06:07   to be armed against civilians. No answer was given to us.
06:11   We therefore went to the New Year’s Eve [party]
06:15   at the SGP POLICE FO union where Christophe Castaner, the Interior Minister,
06:20   came to give a little speech.
06:24   The protesters-rioters, who would bring up legitimate defense for
06:28   hitting, for being violent, wanting to kill
06:32   the police officers. No. No, therefore you are the State.
06:36   You are the only legitimate power able to oppose the violence.
06:40   You are law enforcement. And there is no freedom
06:44   in a country like ours, without public order, and you’re incarnating
06:49   the public order. — Monsieur Castaner!
06:53   Monsieur Castaner excuse me! Yanis Mhamdi from Media.
06:57   Just a little question: our police today are the most armed in Europe
07:01   in their mission of maintaining order. How do you explain it? —I just would like to pass through…
07:05   Sorry, sorry sir, thank you very much! We never received any answer from
07:09   the Interior Minister. In order to understand maintaining order in the French style,
07:14   we went to ACAT [human rights NGO]. In a report about police violence,
07:18   the association underlined that between 2010 and 2013 a European project was introduced
07:22   in order to create a different doctrine of maintaining order, less violent
07:26   towards the protesters. A project comprising countries like Germany,
07:30   the UK and Spain. —In the UK when
07:34   there are arrests, because there are infractions committed by demonstrators,
07:38   before the police intervene to arrest,
07:42   the dialogue units go in the rally to explain:
07:47   voilà, the police will come, because this or that.
07:51   The police intervene, make arrests and the dialogue officers continue explaining why
07:55   thing happened that way and why it’s important. A project in which France didn’t wish to participate.
07:59   In France we have a doctrine, a philosophy that was developed
08:03   at the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th century, where you see a crowd as an opaque group
08:07   with a leader and basically the crowd is stupid and it follows its leader.
08:11   The crowd psychology which developed especially in German at the end of the 20th century
08:15   says that, yes a crowd could be opaque, but those are individuals
08:19   who are endowed with reason and who think for themselves, and who, finally, tend to
08:24   develop solidarity [inside the group]. Hence the importance, finally,
08:28   for law enforcement to not treat the crowd as a single block, but really
08:32   go and remove those, who cause problems, all while guaranteeing the integrity
08:36   And the right to rally for those who don’t cause any problems. The last element is facilitation.
08:40   Meaning that rallies have to be facilitated, protected,
08:44   even when they weren’t planned, declared, and so on. It cannot be the criterion
08:48   for preventing a rally that all the legal obligations weren’t respected beforehand.
08:53   For now we estimate that maintaining of order, French style, caused at least
08:57   two thousand wounded among the protesters, among which about a hundred were seriously wounded.
09:01   A doctrine that the government doesn’t seem ready to abandon any time soon.
 

11 thoughts on “The French Police State Edges Towards Lethality Against Rioters

  1. Government is about stability, not morality.

    Whatever is necessary to maintain the stability will be done.

    • “Community, Identity, Stablity”. Not Orwell, but Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World”, published in 1932- how’s that for prescience?). Someone should compile a list of works whose titles derive from Shakespeare (in this case, “The Tempest”).

      While I’m showing off, my beloved, who once lived in Oxford, owns a beautifully carved sideboard bought from the estate of Aldous’ sister (and fellow writer) Elspeth; she and her then husband got it quite cheaply, as most people at the auction were after the literary effects.

      • Many good insights on trickery of governance can be gleaned from the TV show:

        ‘Yes, Minister’ and ‘Yes, Prime Minister’

  2. “Government is about stability, not morality.”

    That is the fantasy they peddle.

    But Macrons attempts to use eco-freak nonsense as an excuse to grind ordinary French folk into poverty (so that they have no time/money to resist or organise against the state) has caused all of recent events. Hardly conducive to “stability”.

    The Global “elite” want the stability of feudalism where the little people have no resources and know their place.

    Most of us–and esp the children–have nothing to hope for by going with their “program” save misery, impoverishment and death. This is part of an ongoing war against us by a scummy elite–who find middle class cultural Marxism and in-school indoctrination useful allies. If we do not resist there is nowhere for most to go except down.

    • You are correct to say that instability is often a goal of government.

      However, this is only a short term instability which is tolerated by the government as they attempt to impose on us a new system or order or ‘new normal’.

      When the new system or culture is established, at least in part, they will then begin to enforce its continued existence, to stabilise it.

      The system the government favours is the one they will pur their resources and violence into to maintain its stability.

    • “The Global “elite” want the stability of feudalism where the little people have no resources and know their place.”

      Precisely why Macron is using violence to attempt to maintain stability of the current system.

    • It is difficult to explain. This is roughly how it has been explained to me by government insiders and CSIS:

      Basically, any instability a government creates as an effect of making unpopular or massive changes, as with 3rd world immigration, is not necessarily completely chaotic but is controlled by the government as much as possible. A sort of controlled instability. The instability is the transitional period between the old and the new order or system. Any actions by the populace to work against this so-called controlled chaos is to be quickly fought against in the courts, classrooms and in the street, with violence when necessary. The goal is always clear to the government but not the citizens.

      So, in France, the Yellow Vests represent a destabilising effect on the ‘controlled chaos’ created by mass immigration. The ‘controlled chaos’ or instability, in the governements’ eyes, must be kept under the government’s control and no amount of control over any part of the entire process must be allowed to be wielded by ‘populists’.

      The Yellow Vest protests would be allowed to continue and perhaps to gain more power and violence if that is what the government required to meet its objectives of imposing mass immigration. But, the protests are fighting against the governements’ process and are destabilising the government’s ‘controlled instability’. So, the government chooses violence and the courts to stop this movement in order to maintain the somewhat ‘stable instability’ created by the government.

      • I agree with you completely. The real chaotic agent of change to enhance government power is the street gang. I have argued that an armed citizenry is best used to defend itself against street gangs that may be representing the government interests, but that the government must distance itself from.

        But, the demonstrators are making a huge, possibly fatal, mistake by engaging in violent protests. Initiating violence alienates their natural allies, the native police and the national military. It also gives the government a perfect cover to escalate violence. The protests should be peaceful.

        Using EU troops would indeed short-circuit the checks against the rulers who order the troops to fire on their own fellow citizens. Another reason why the protests should be peaceful: don’t give the government an excuse to bring in outside troops.

        I’m afraid the street demonstrators who think they can affect events simply by displaying rage are operating under a delusion. I agree with you, there’s a lot of manipulation going on. And it has to be fought with brains, not with rage and rocks.

  3. They can get away with this in a disarmed nation. In the USA, one of those guys who lost an eye (or his brother) would already be scouting out a perch for his scoped rifle.

  4. The government is fighting a war against its own citizens, but continue to lavish favors upon the invading Islamic hordes who will destroy France and make it their home.

  5. A year or two ago, European Union President Jean-Claude Junker stated that it was time that the EU had its own military force. Junker made his statement in the context of President Trump’s demands that Europe’s NATO members contribute more to the alliance or perhaps it would be time for the U.S. to reevaluate its membership in the alliance. However, the globalist’s hand wasn’t really shown until President Macron of France and Chancellor Merkel of German met in the wake of the on-going “Yellow Vest” protests in France. They confirmed that such a force was necessary as a check against “populism” and “nationalism,” both of which they regard as more of a threat to order than the Muslims who are rampaging across much of Europe. This tells us that the EU elites want their military not as a tool with which to protect ordinary Europeans, but as a force used to repress them and any protests they might be moved to make against the new status quo being built for them by their new masters.

    In short, Macron and Merkel’s force will act as a de facto army of occupation enforcing the NWO on European soil.

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