Police officers implicated in Sainte-Soline: Marine Tondelier demands that Gérald Darmanin explain himself or resign

The leader of the Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, asked Gérald Darmanin on Monday, November 10, to consider resigning after the publication of videos on maintaining order during the demonstration in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres) because he was Minister of the Interior and is now Keeper of the Seals while a judicial investigation is open.

Mediapart and Libération published last week videos from body cameras worn by law enforcement officers mobilized on March 25, 2023 around the construction site of a contested agricultural water reservoir, nicknamed "megabasin" , by thousands of protesters.

In particular, we hear police officers encouraging "direct fire" of grenades, a prohibited practice, towards demonstrators, and others congratulating themselves on the injuries caused.

"I was expecting a reaction from the then Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. He refused to comment to the press. This is unacceptable," Marine Tondelier declared Monday evening on social media. Like other Green Party elected officials, she was present at the demonstration.

"Several Green parliamentarians have contacted the prosecutor in Rennes who is in charge of the case (...) But Gérald Darmanin, now Minister of Justice, is now her hierarchical superior," added the Green leader, who is also a candidate in the next presidential election.

"For the sake of the serenity of the legal proceedings that could follow these revelations, we ask that if he is unable to provide any explanation or apology, he resign," she added.

The banned rally in Sainte-Soline degenerated into clashes between radical activists and police, with 5,000 grenades fired and a hail of stones and Molotov cocktails. The demonstrators reported 200 injuries, 40 of them serious, while the police reported 45.

The current Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, condemned the "remarks" and "gestures" made by gendarmes and visible in the videos, but he refuted the term "police violence".

"I will never allow criticism of the internal security forces and you know very well that these kinds of events, which are serious, I agree, (...) always allow some to criticize the police institution or the gendarmerie in general," the minister said on Thursday.