WORLD : Gendarmes Warned to Halt Protest
The government warned today that it will stamp out an unprecedented protest movement among France’s gendarmes, the paramilitary police renowned for their stiff-backed devotion to duty.
Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement said the protests over poor conditions in the 91,000-member force have gone too far and are politically orchestrated.
“Anonymous appeals are even inciting gendarmes, the guardians of legality, to take illegal action,” Chevenement said in an open letter to all ranks. “This is not acceptable and will not be accepted.”
After years of grumbling in vain about low pay, long hours and the martial bleakness of barrack life, gendarmes spread the spirit of rebellion rapidly this week. In a cascade of anonymous letters to newspapers, gendarmes throughout France have risked dismissal by threatening to stage the first industrial action in the gendarmerie’s centuries of history.
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