International Journal on Criminology Volume 7, Number 1, Winter 2019/2020 | Page 7

International Journal on Criminology
Whether it involves the insurrectional demonstrations of 1934 or the
cobblestones thrown at police during the May 1968 events, a confused
amnesia governs politicians about the very nature of maintaining public
order in France.
It took a very long time for the management of demonstrations to be demilitarized
and for rioting crowds to no longer be shot at (1921 and 1945, respectively).
This slow de-escalation went hand in hand with the very gradual creation
of specialized units that would become the Gendarmerie mobile and the CRS.
Regional Compagnies d’intervention (public order forces) were also introduced,
in particular in Paris. Management of the MO (Maintenance of Order) was not
completely handled by experts in the field.
The principles of maintaining public order therefore adapted according to
events. It reached its height in 1979 with the demonstration by steelworkers in Paris.
As so often occurs, and in line with the customs of the period, this led to a duel,
or a tournament, between security personnel of the CGT and the forces of law and
order on a commonly defined terrain and shared timetable. This was followed by
a confrontation with the rioters (known as “autonomes” or “totos” by those close
to them).
1986 saw a mobilization of the student movement, and especially of highschool
students, who discovered a new way of demonstrating. At the head of the
procession of marchers, and in front of the security forces, a young demonstrators
“nebula” stood between the CRS and the trade union security team in order to
challenge them. In the years that followed, this very militant young crowd changed
tactics, and took to moving along the demonstration to pillage shops or even steal
from other demonstrators in the procession itself. Each tense episode (1994 (CIP),
1995 (Juppé Pensions), 2003 (Fillon Pensions), 2006 (CPE), 2016 (El Khomri), etc.)
led to a modification of procedure and to variations: these became tougher and
more organized for anti-globalization gatherings and more spontaneous during the
2003 riots following the deaths of two children in an electrical substation.
On each occasion, after first being dumbfounded and then adjusting to the
new situation, the forces of law and order adapted, regaining the upper hand, and
a political solution took shape (usually by withdrawal of the offending provision).
But, alas, there is a great ability to forget where policing is concerned—a domain
that is very rarely run by the police themselves and much more often by experts in
public order.
2018 was not 1934. The fascist leagues did not run the movement, but they
took advantage of the opportunity. Neither was it 1968, when a process began in a
high school and spread through a crisis of abundance and liberalization in a conservative
society trapped in a black and white vision of the world (contrary to what
is said, it led to at least three deaths). Neither was it 1986 (which had a symbolic
2