French Police Admit They are Scared to Enforce Burqa Ban Law Due to Fears of Backlash

Revolution and Progress
July 23, 2013

The majority of French people support keeping the ban on Islamic veils.
The majority of French people support keeping the ban on Islamic veils.

Even before the law was passed banning the burqa, the Workers Force union SGP unit had already sounded the alarm, saying that it would be difficult to enforce.

“We do not have much control if not long ago that it would be wrong. Controls veiled women are a sensitive issue because some fundamentalists trying to set fire to the powder, “says a trade unionist Unsa-police. Law of 11 October 2010 states that “no person may, in the public space, wear clothing intended to conceal his face. ”

During an identity check, the police officer may ask a woman to remove her veil. If it refuses, she is taken to the police to carry out an identity check and be a verbalization. It will then be called by the local court. “This law is difficult to enforce, confirms Nicolas Comte, deputy general secretary of the Workers Force union SGP unit. The number of controlled application of this text people An estimated 700 200 correspond to individuals who wear masks and 500 veiled women. In most cases, everything goes well but when this is not the case, it turns boxing or mini-riot. ”

At Synergy Officer , we are reminded that even before the law was passed the union had already sounded the alarm: “We were told specifically that it would be difficult to enforce market days in Trappes, insists Patrice Ribeiro the Deputy Secretary General. It was prescient! ”

“In some neighborhoods, we observe that groups want to get radical Islam to destabilize the Republic,” adds Christophe Crepin, deputy secretary general of the UNSA-police, which stresses the need “not to confuse between the majority of believers who live quietly and the radical Islamists who are provocations, creating a very serious situation. ”

A view shared by SGP Workers Power Unit, which sums up the situation: “The controls are going wrong when controlled want and they are a militant act ensures Nicolas Comte. Some offenders are also persistent offenders who chose not to apply the law.

According to the police, climbing is often the result of the environment of the woman controlled, as was the case in Trappes. It is the husband who takes the family or people in the street to disrupt control.

Is there then a restraint on the part of police officers, self-censorship not to perform these checks? “Yes, it can happen, said Nicolas Comte Unit GSP working force. But in the same way as in some areas colleagues are sometimes reluctant to verbalize motorists who do not wear their seat or scooter riders who ride without a helmet. The situation can quickly escalate, it is well known that any police intervention is potentially generating riot or assault police. When employees do not feel safe, not realizing control. The problem is that this is exactly what the radicals seek. ”

Synergy officer and present the puzzle faced by the police: “We must not create more trouble than we are responsible for suppressing said Patrice Ribeiro. But the radicals seek to mesmerize the police for there is more control. But it is important not to yield. If we give in on this, we will then give to others. “