Patrick Chaimovitch, a member of the Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV) and the mayor of Colombes, has been fined €3,000 (£2,564/$3,547) after he claimed French police acted like members of the Vichy regime.
The Criminal Court of Nanterre sentenced Chaimovitch on July 6th after he was prosecuted for “public insult to a custodian of public authority” over remarks made on July 19th, 2020, in which he compared French police looking for illegal migrants to Vichy regime authorities rounding up Jews.
According to a report from Le Figaro, Chaimovitch had compared police actions to the Vel d’Hiv roundup, which saw over 13,000 Jews arrested at the behest of the occupying Nazi German regime in 1942.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin filed a complaint against the Green party mayor while calling the remarks “scandalous and intolerable”.
Despite Chaimovitch claiming he regretted his remarks and apologising for “confusion”, the case proceeded to court earlier this year.
During the May hearing, Chaimovitch stated: “I have always talked about the individual behaviour of certain police officers and gendarmes, I have never generalised.”
His lawyer stated: “His remarks were aimed at certain police officers, fortunately in the minority.”
While the lawyer of the police union Alliance criticised the mayor’s remarks, saying that police were being smeared for political purposes.
In recent years, France has seen a surge in anti-police violence, with a February report claiming that there is an average of 85 incidents against public authority officials every day across the country.
Police have also complained of light sentences for far-left extremists who engage in violence against them at protests and riots.
The main problem for police in France, however, is growing urban violence, where police officers are often lured into areas and attacked. Local youths have also besieged police stations.
Last year, one French county in the suburbs of Paris saw officers attacked nearly every evening for two weeks.
Growing problems with urban violence have even led to former senior military officers signing a letter warning the government of the possibility of civil war in France and the further possibility of military intervention.