'STOP TRYING TO TURN US INTO PRIESTS' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Daanyeer]

'Stop trying to turn us into priests': French riot police threaten to strike over alcohol ban while on duty


By Peter Allen
21st April 2011


France's notoriously tough riot police are threatening strike action over a new ban on drinking alcohol while on duty.
The infamous CRS (Republican Security Companies) – an elite body which originally made its name quelling student demonstrators during nationwide disturbances in May 1968 – has always enjoyed beer and wine with its meals.
But now they accuse the government of ‘trying to make us priests, but without the sacramental wine.’


‘Nobody should object to a small drink on jobs,’ added Didier Mangione, of the SGP-FO trade union, which is contemplating the industrial action.
‘We have received a new memorandum outlawing alcohol, and this is completely unacceptable,’ said Mr Mangione.
‘CRS officers do not have any more or less alcohol problems than anybody else in society. They should be allowed to drink in moderation.’


The ban followed notorious pictures appearing last October of CRS officers drinking while policing a demonstration in Paris.
They were wearing body armour and carrying weapons as they sipped from beer and wine bottles. Some were also smoking.
‘We don’t encourage drinking but we don’t like being patronised either,’ said Mr Mangione.

‘During eleven years sitting on disciplinary boards I’ve never seen any problems caused by a drunk officer.’

While British police are strictly barred from drinking on duty, the French have traditionally been allowed 25cl of wine or a small beer with their main meal of the day.
It was normally served on an official tray and sometimes eaten in full view of the public, often outside riot-control vans.
The CRS, which was formed after the Second World War to ‘protect’ the Republic from internal threats, has always been renowned for employing particularly tough officers.
They are often seen bracing themselves for action on the streets of major cities like Paris, Marseilles and Lyon.
Whenever a riot is threatened in a housing project or outside a university, it is invariably the CRS who are called to mobilise. Their tactics involve responding swiftly, and often violently.




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