An administrative investigation was opened Friday 1st February, 2019 after the broadcast of a controversial video, where police commented on clashes with yellow vests.
The controversy swells, after the broadcast of a video on twitter, where we hear police commenting images of CCTV cameras, during clashes between yellow vests and police on a demonstration in Toulouse . The “spontaneous comments,” according to the Departmental Directorate of Public Security of the Haute-Garonne (DDSP 31), which has opened an administrative investigation for ” breach of professional secrecy and concealment, so that light be shed on these facts” , she says to Actu Toulouse. The point on the case.
Where and when does this scene take place?
The scene is held on the Capitol Square in Toulouse , during the demonstration of yellow vests, for Act IX Saturday, January 12th, and not the 19th as initially mentioned in the tweet. As every Saturday, around 16:30, the demonstration had degenerated, and violent clashes had erupted between rioters and police. Recall that that day , the Capitol had been tagged and a fire had been lit in front of the door of the town hall.
What do we see and hear about these images?
The images broadcast in the video in question testify to the violence of these clashes. We do not see the people who speak, but we hear several agents, men and a woman, comment on the clashes. Visibly touched to see their colleagues being hurt by protesters wearing yellow vests, they let themselves go to “spontaneous comments”.
In this sequence of about 1.30 minutes, in the middle of a few vulgarities, two sentences stand out: one pronounced by a woman: “But damn, we must draw what! “. The other by a man just after: “When I tell you that you have to align two three bastos”.
19-01-2019 : contre toute attente, plus de 10000 personnes dans les rues de Toulouse. Place du capitole , des collègues épuisés essuient les charges des manifestants. Surpris, émus et estomaqués, des policiers de la salle de commandement appellent à « tirer des bastos ». 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ZHc20HKdSl
— VIGI (@VIGI_MI) 31 January 2019
Where was the video shot?
Rumors of all kinds circulate on social networks around these images … They were not shot at the security police of the Municipal Police, nor at the prefecture, but at the Command and Information Center of the National Police, installed in the very heart of the Police Hotel, boulevard de l’Embouchure in Toulouse . These premises are located on the first floor of the building, directly opposite the Office of the Departmental Director of Public Security.
Who broadcast these images?
The video in question was published Thursday, January 31 on facebook and twitter by … a police union, called Vigi (formerly CGT Police). It is an unrepresentative union among the police, which had no list at the last internal elections in Occitania. Why did he show this video? The union simply explained that the police were “moved, surprised, and shocked” by what they saw, and in another tweet blamed the policemen’s comments about the government. The union assures in another comment: ” The goal is not to incriminate our colleagues. Just to show that the government’s policy brings tensions, words that go beyond our thoughts (…) The yellow vests would not have these gestures usually. Let’s take up our minds. On the union’s facebook page, the choice to broadcast this video is strongly criticized.
Des français qui, de part et d’autre, s’entretuent. Un gouvernement qui joue le pourrissement…vidéo VIGI 2/2
— VIGI (@VIGI_MI) 31 January 2019
At the central police station in Toulouse: a question is on everyone’s lips: who sent this video to this union, and why? According to our information, the direction of the DDSP has (really) not appreciated this sequence, as much about the behaviour of the agents concerned, as of the diffusion of the video on the social networks … In “off”, a policeman The police station sighs: “What surprises us is that a police union has balanced this. What is the point ? It’s not very unifying for the police. “
Authorities deplore “illegal capture” and open investigation
Contacted by Actu Toulouse, the Departmental Directorate of Public Security of Haute-Garonne “confirms that an illegal capture of images and sounds was made in the Command and Information Center of Toulouse on 12/01 / 2019 “. She relates that “this video shows policemen, then on protection mission of the Toulouse town hall as part of the movement called ‘Yellow Vests’ attacked and charged by determined protesters, wanting to seriously undermine their physical integrity. Then the DDSP estimates:
“This scene of a rare violence provoked the emotion of the people watching these images live, resulting in spontaneous comments.”
The DDSP immediately “opened an administrative inquiry ” for breach of professional secrecy and concealment, so that “all the light is shed on these facts”.
This should not appease the already tense relations between yellow vests and police officers, on the eve of Act XII of the mobilisation …
