A new controversy for the ecologist deputy Sandrine Rousseau. While the debates on the circumstances of Nahel’s death and the riots that followed the tragedy are still very vigorous on the political scene, the elected EELV spoke, via Twitter, on the police shootings.
His goal ? Denounce the misuse of firearms by law enforcement for several years. And the MP is far from the only one on the left who wants to “reform the police” from floor to ceiling. “We need a police force that is as disarmed as possible”, already launched Manuel Bompart at the microphone of BFMTV, Thursday July 6. This time, however, Sandrine Rousseau seems to have gone too far.
“The police cannot, must not kill. Never,” reads a first tweet where she adds, “It’s a simple principle. A republican principle”. In another, she goes more specifically to the reasons for what she calls abuse: “The emergency laws following the terrorist attacks play a role in the current situation,” she wrote, referring to the law of February 28, 2017 which allows the police to shoot in the event of refusal to comply or self-defense. Before adding: “Shooting, even in the case of terrorism, must not be the preferred option. It can only exist in extreme cases. Justified and without any other alternative”.
Words that puzzled many Internet users, when they simply did not arouse anger. The elected environmentalist has been criticized for turning her head against the courage and bravery shown by hundreds of law enforcement officers during the numerous attacks that have hit France since 2015. The opposition produced by the elected between “extreme situation” and “terrorism” seemed to them inadequate: “You prefer that we die, the important thing is to disarm our police forces”, advanced an angry Internet user while another published a saddened message: “I never wish you, Madam, to find yourself caught up in a terrorist attack”.
A final published the photos of the faces of those who died during the attacks of November 13, 2015, insisting: “The balance sheet of the attacks of Islamist terrorists of November 13, 2015 reports 130 dead and 413 wounded. Eventually, an assault by law enforcement will end the horror and kill the terrorists. Fortunately, our police forces were well armed”.
Faced with chain reactions, the MP finally backpedaled. “I withdraw my two previous tweets and apologize for having hurt the victims and their loved ones,” she said.
“The use of lethal weapons framework is a discussion that is fundamental to our democracy but absolutely cannot fit into the Twitter format,” she said. The sentence may surprise when you know that this social network is one of the favorite playgrounds of the elected official who tweets daily.
This controversy comes indeed only five days after the publication of a controversial message in which she associated the looting of stores with the alleged poverty of the perpetrators of these thefts. “What if looting had to do with poverty? Brands with the feeling of relegation?”, she wrote, arousing the indignation of some Internet users and the right.