The Opera Incident
Sam White
Paris Paris had never seen anything quite like it: policemen not only disguised as potential rioters but behaving as such, while some of their colleagues dressed in full riot-police battle-gear were being chased by the mob instead of themselves doing the chasing. All this against a background of dozens of Injured — mainly police, incidentally — smashed shop-windows and widespread looting which climaxed what was to have been a peaceful and dignified protest march, mainly by steel workers from Lorraine, against actual and threatened unemPloyment in the region. It was a communist-organised demonstration and 60,000 turned out for it. Arrangements for the march and its policing had been carefully worked out beforehand between the organisers and the Paris Prefect of Police. The route for the march Was from the Place de la Republique to the Opera, and the organisers were to maintain order along the route while the riot police remained invisible along parallel side streets.
Both sides were to be on guard against the expected presence of uncontrolled elements out for trouble and in some cases merely bent on looting. In the event the rioters amounted to no more than about 3.00 at the most and they were easily distinguishable as they came dressed for battle, wearing crash helmets and wielding iron bars. Driven off when they tried to join the march at the beginning, they were able to rejoin it most conveniently at the Opera When it was about to break up. Many arrived by Metro at the Opera station, the Police having forgotten either to close it or . have their plain-clothes men posted inside to intercept them. What happened as the march was about to break up is now a matter for hot debate in the Paris press and, oddly enough, among a bewildering multiplicity of policemen's trade unions. These number a good dozen representing every variety of police service and affiliated to a variety of trade union federations including the communist one, the CGT. What is undeniable is that one of the rioters caught in flagrante delicto by some of the organisers of the march turned out to be a policeman in disguise. When, after a brief chase, he was brought to the ground he uttered the immortal words: `Laissez tomber, les gars. Je suis poulet'. Sure enough his captors found his police card — giving his name as Gerard le Xuan, and also his police issue revolver.
While admitting that he was indeed a policeman the Ministry of the Interior denied that he was an agent provocateur . If that was his role, the Ministry asked, would the authorities have been foolish enough to send him out carrying his official papers? The argument has weight but his captors claim that what attracted their attention to him in the first place was precisely his provocative behaviour. He was, they say, heaving bricks at the police when they caught him. Meanwhile an interesting pnoto has been published by some Paris weeklies. It shows a group of CRS riot police on a street corner on the day of the riots and beside them, ready for action, three men wearing what every well-dressed rioter should wear — motorbike helmet, leather jacket and jeans — and carrying a steel bar.
The difficulty of disguising a plain-clothes policeman so that he does not look like a plain-clothes policeman is of course legendary; but one wonders if equipping him with a steel bar is strictly necessary. One can see all the advantages of having plain clothes men among the rioters, but one can also see the danger — especially in a country like France which is the original home of the agent provocateur — of them playing the role of the fake rioter a little too enthusiastically. In this connection it should be remembered that this demonstration, with its appalling climax of violence and looting, took place only two days before the final round of voting in . the cantonal elections. The demonstration was organised by the communist-controlled CGT and boycotted by the other trade union federations who saw in it a political manoeuvre by the communists to gain votes in the second round of the cantonals.
The rioting which resulted probably damaged the Left in the eyes of many voters and could not have been unwelcome to the government parties. From there to say that the police might have had a hand in letting the situation get out of hand is but a step, and it is a step that has already been taken not only by opposition leaders but by many shopkeepers in the Opera area.
There seems to be no doubt that at some points the police took an unduly long time to go into action against what was after all a handful of looters, preferring to look on across a deserted no man's land. They may of course have been prey to their own not unjustified resentments. Why, for example, the humiliating agreement with the organisers of the march to keep the police out of sight and leave the maintenance of order along the route entirely to the organisers — in short to a kind of private militia?
By the time the debate on the Opera riots had got really under way the cantonal elections were over (the Left — especially the Socialists — did well and the Right — especially the Gaullists — did poorly). The need for exaggerated rhetoric on the subject had faded. Not so for the Elysee Palace, however, which came out with a solemn declaration from Giscard saying that he had instructed all Prefects of Police not to authorise city centre demonstrations unless the organisers could give absolute assurances that public order would not be disturbed. The result was renewed uproar. How could public order be guaranteed? If Prefects were being asked to obey such an impossible directive then obviously they would never give authorisation for any demonstration except possibly for one against vivisection. In short, was it not the President's intention to use the Opera incident as an excuse for banning all demonstrations? In vain did the presidential spokesman, M Pierre Hunt, intervene to say that Giscard's words had been misinterpreted. Too late. By that time the unity of the various trade union federations which had opposed the communist march had been re-forged on the issue of the right to demonstrate.
A new demonstration, for which no specific date has yet been fixed, will be held, and backed by just about everybody. There will not only be the CGT this time but also the CFDT, the UNSJ, the FO and of course our old friends SNIP and SNAP. It should number at least 100,000 and will no doubt finish up at the Opera amid scenes of impeccable order. As for the Minister of the Interior, I am sure that he will see to it that all the `poulets' under his command will be safely cooped up for the day.
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