On Monday, two high-ranking officers from the Spanish security forces testified before the judge investigating the mass entry of migrants into Ceuta, stating that Moroccan agents stood idly by during the events of July 30 and 31, and that some actively facilitated the passage of people into the Spanish city. According to legal sources cited by EFE, more than 72,000 people entered from Morocco over those two days.
RELATED:
Morocco Tightens Ceuta Border Security Amid Calls for New Mass Crossing
A lieutenant colonel of the Guardia Civil—who serves as head of operations for the Ceuta Command—and a chief inspector of the National Police in the autonomous city provided testimony to the magistrate overseeing the case regarding the migration crisis. Both linked the actions of the Moroccan authorities to the mass influx of migrants.
The National Police chief inspector asserted that Moroccan agents facilitated the crossing into Ceuta. He described uniformed personnel—dressed in gray and khaki—as well as individuals in plainclothes, gesturing for the migrants to move forward. He also claimed to have seen people directing a very long line from Morocco toward Spain.
For his part, the Guardia Civil lieutenant colonel maintained that Moroccan military personnel stood by with their arms at their sides during the influx. He noted that while they took an active stance toward sub-Saharan migrants attempting to cross, they remained passive when it came to their own compatriots.
The Guardia Civil officer recounted that other agents allegedly directed people from the beach toward the breakwater that separates Ceuta from Morocco. He indicated that the Moroccan military steered migrants into the water, forcing Spanish security personnel to pull individuals from the sea to save their lives.
MASS MIGRATION: Insane footage shows thousands of migrants entering Spain from Morocco pic.twitter.com/WHDbDEmPML
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) July 30, 2026
Furthermore, he claimed to have seen Moroccan vessels picking up people during the influx and subsequently dropping them off on the beach. He explained that these were small craft, as larger vessels could not approach the coast.
On the night before the mass entry, the lieutenant colonel stated that he had spotted six Moroccan vessels: two patrol boats, two interceptors, and two smaller craft. The officer noted that it was striking that, on a day with fog, there were six Moroccan Navy vessels in the area.
He also stated that he had received no warning regarding a mass entry planned for July 30. He pointed out that prior coordination meetings were not held for that purpose, and that it was never communicated to him that there was a planned influx for Throne Day—a national holiday in Morocco.
A National Police inspector explained that, overall, the arrival of migrants had increased three- to fourfold compared to previous years. However, he noted that in the days leading up to the events, the increase had been exponential.
The investigation seeks to clarify the circumstances surrounding the mass entry of migrants into Ceuta—one of the most significant border crises between Spain and Morocco in recent years.
An independent review into Henry Nowak’s murder announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will investigate whether police failed to act on his Sikh killer's obsession with religious knives over racism fears.
The post Review into Murder of Henry Nowak to Examine if Racism Fears Played Part in Police Conduct appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
The president of Portugal’s Bar Association believes an inquiry must be carried out into the security forces’ actions at the protest camps in Lisbon and Porto on Sunday, as the
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Politicians of all colours are reacting in a form of stampede to the scenes of violence in Lisbon and Porto last night – but the overall focus is on the
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© Kirsten Luce for The New York Times
The silence of Portugal’s minority AD government in the face of ‘right to housing protests’, and the indignation arising from last night’s police charge on protesters, has seen LIVRE (left
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Is there an exception to the 5th Amendment's promise that government cannot take private property without "just compensation"? The Supreme Court declined to address that question this past Monday when it rejected a trio of petitions asking the justices to consider whether people should be compensated when law enforcement seizes or destroys their property.
Two of the cases concerned individuals who were not accused of a crime but whose property nevertheless became collateral damage as police pursued a suspect. In June 2022, police fired 30 tear gas canisters into Amy Hadley's home in South Bend, Indiana. Officers smashed windows, tore down security cameras, ransacked furniture, ripped down a panel and a fan, and punched holes in the walls as they searched for a fugitive named John Parnell Thomas, who had never been there. The police had erroneously concluded that Thomas accessed the internet via the IP address at Hadley's home. According to Hadley, the police caused at least $16,000 in damages, which insurance only partially covered.
About two months later, a SWAT team in Los Angeles arrived at Carlos Pena's North Hollywood printing business and destroyed it, along with his equipment inside, crippling his livelihood after a fugitive broke in and barricaded himself in the shop. (The suspect ultimately escaped.) Pena alleged approximately $60,000 in damages in his suit against the city, which declined to compensate him for his losses. His insurance also refused to step in—as is common in such cases, as policies often exclude damage caused by the government.
The third petition concerned Chicago drivers whose vehicles were seized by the city over modest unpaid parking tickets. Ryan O'Donnell's vehicle was impounded and sold for scrap because of about $524 in debt. Michael Goree's was seized and relinquished to the lienholder over a debt that did not belong to him; the $560 in unpaid tickets were for a different vehicle owned by his co-signer.
In all of these cases the lower courts' reasoning came from a similar place. Hadley, O'Donnell, and Goree's petitions were heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, which has adopted a categorical rule: Property destroyed in the exercise of "police power" is immune to claims under the Takings Clause, the U.S. Constitution's pledge that government cannot usurp private property without fairly compensating the owner. Pena's case went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, where the judges have declined to issue such a sweeping exception but have instead ruled that governments are exempt from paying out claims when the police actions in question were "necessary."
In a statement, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, outlined the many inconsistencies between the circuits on the topic. "It is still an 'open question' whether these or any other approaches are consistent with this Court's precedents. Few of these decisions likewise explain the source of any such police-power exception to the Takings Clause—whether the common law, the Constitution, or elsewhere," she wrote. "Such questions thus continue to 'benefit from further percolation' in the lower courts before this Court chooses to intervene."
Sotomayor was quoting herself. In 2024, she released similar remarks in response to a petition from Texas woman Vicki Baker, whose house in McKinney had been hollowed by a SWAT team attempting to capture a fugitive. The high court declined to hear Baker's case, although she finally found relief under the Texas state constitution this year.
"It's possible that the Court sincerely doesn't think the lower courts have done enough thinking on this important but novel issue," Patrick Jaicomo, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice who represented Hadley, tells me. "Still, we've brought them 5 cases from 5 circuits. How much more percolation is needed?…The Court is going to have to address this important issue, and it's not clear what another circuit decision or 6 might do to aid that consideration."
Though Sotomayor's statement ran in parallel to the one two years ago, its slightly sharper warning intimated that we may be inching closer to a resolution. "I again encourage courts considering this issue to take care," she wrote, "that due deference to state police powers does not eclipse constitutional rights."
The post Police Destroyed Their Homes and Businesses. The Supreme Court Won't Say Who Should Pay. appeared first on Reason Magazine.
Police charged housing protesters in Lisbon and Porto early on Sunday, clearing two city-centre encampments in operations that organisers say left dozens injured, including some people with serious injuries. Thirty-one
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© Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The PSP has today deployed police forces to monitor demonstrations for the right to housing in various towns and cities across the country – with particular focus on Lisbon and
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West Des Moines, Iowa—Iowa voters may disagree on immigration, taxes, and the economy, but government surveillance is drawing opposition from across the political spectrum.
An Emerson College poll of 750 likely Iowa voters, conducted between late August and early September, found that 61 percent opposed police use of automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, compared with 26 percent in support.
The backlash comes as police departments across the state increasingly rely on surveillance technology supplied by private companies such as Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions. Their cameras record license plates and vehicle information, feeding searchable databases that allow law enforcement to piece together motorists' movements, including those of people suspected of no crime.
As Iowa's gubernatorial and congressional campaigns enter their final stretch, voters are increasingly pressing candidates on whether they intend to place limits on the technology. Jacqueline Thompson, an ordained elder in the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church and a self-described centrist Democrat, said she has been concerned about government surveillance for years.
"It's always been important to me [and] I've always thought that was a problem," she said before a campaign rally at a senior living community in Des Moines earlier this month. "So, when people started jumping on the bandwagon saying it, I was like, 'Hello, I've been here already!'"
Thompson pointed to two Democratic candidates, Nate Willems, who is running for Iowa attorney general, and Taylor Wettach, a candidate for state auditor, as having caught her attention with their emphasis on corporate oversight and access to government records.
For Thompson, the renewed attention to privacy is a welcome development in a political environment where Democrats and Republicans rarely find common ground. "It's kind of nice to hear the people come back to the middle [and discuss this]," she said.
Police surveillance technology has spread across Iowa faster than the rules governing its use.
A recent study identified at least 62 Iowa law enforcement agencies that had accessed other agencies' Flock databases, including departments that did not operate cameras of their own. Police departments can therefore search information collected well beyond their jurisdictions without having to install a single camera themselves. The study (led by Megan Graham, a clinical associate professor and director of the Technology Law Clinic at the University of Iowa College of Law) found significant gaps in transparency surrounding ALPRs.
The constitutional implications are already being tested in court. On October 1, a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled that a sheriff's deputy violated the Fourth Amendment by searching a motorist's location history through automated license plate reader systems operated by Flock Safety and Motorola Solutions without a warrant.
The search turned up more than 50 records of the driver's whereabouts across multiple states over a month. In the 38-page ruling, the judge ordered the resulting evidence suppressed, describing the technology as a form of "indiscriminate mass surveillance." The decision is not binding in Iowa, and legal challenges to ALPR surveillance still face an uphill battle, but it adds to the legal scrutiny of police tracking motorists without warrants.
The University of Iowa study also raised concerns about unauthorized database access, erroneous alerts, and the potential use of locally collected information for federal immigration enforcement.
Flock Safety says it has not provided U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol with direct access to its systems. But the researchers found that local law enforcement agencies elsewhere in the country had conducted searches on behalf of federal authorities, effectively allowing them to obtain information without direct access.
Taxpayers are also footing the bill. Cedar Rapids reported operating 76 cameras at a combined average cost of more than $20,000 a month, according to the study.
Researchers struggled to determine the full extent of surveillance across Iowa. Some agencies refused to disclose the number or locations of their cameras, while others withheld records concerning unauthorized access or erroneous alerts, citing confidentiality.
The cameras are not limited to Iowa's largest cities. Becca Eastwood, deputy policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said they have spread across large, midsize, and smaller communities, prompting a surge in opposition over the past year.
The backlash "has just exploded, like no other issue that I have seen in my time at the ACLU," Eastwood told Reason in an interview. Candidates running for state and federal offices are increasingly getting asked if they support police departments using ALPR cameras, she said.
Some local governments are already reconsidering their contracts. Indianola and Waukee suspended their Flock camera arrangements, Iowa Public Radio reported in August. Dallas County paused a planned rollout while awaiting guidance from state lawmakers. Ankeny, which operates 16 Flock cameras, is reportedly expected to reconsider a possible contract extension next year.
The backlash also cuts across the immigration debate. While concerns about federal immigration enforcement have helped draw attention to the cameras, critics argue the same surveillance infrastructure can be used against anyone, regardless of which party controls the government.
"This is a nonpartisan issue because people recognize that surveillance can be weaponized against anyone the government wants to weaponize it against," Eastwood said. "An increase in police surveillance impacts certain populations more, right now [but] nobody is immune."
The opposition is beginning to force Iowa's candidates to take positions on a technology that, until recently, attracted relatively little attention outside law enforcement and civil liberties circles.
Among the gubernatorial candidates, interviewed by Iowa Radio last month, Republican Zach Lahn has called for state-level regulation, arguing that the widespread collection of information about where people drive is unacceptable. Meanwhile, Democrat Rob Sand has expressed support for safeguards governing the collection and use of license plate data and said he would sign legislation if privacy concerns persisted. But he has also pointed to the cancellation of some Flock contracts as evidence that the market is responding to public concerns.
For now, neither approach offers much clarity on whether police should be required to obtain warrants before searching motorists' location histories or how far restrictions on data collection should go.
Ryan Johnson, a libertarian-leaning Republican who works as a machinist near Waterloo, said he could accept cameras in certain locations, such as downtown areas or near traffic signals. But he objects to their spread into residential neighborhoods and public spaces.
"Just having Flock cameras everywhere, [in] residential [areas], putting them at parks and pools, we don't need that," Johnson said while attending a Lahn rally earlier this month.
So far, some of the most concrete changes to ALPR practices have come from Flock itself. In August, the company announced that it would reduce its default data-retention period from 30 days to seven and require officers to enter a criminal case number or code for each search. The changes would not, however, require police to obtain a warrant before accessing the records.
Gary and Nancy Guthrie, a Democratic couple attending a Des Moines rally supporting Chris Jones for secretary of agriculture, remain skeptical of the cameras.
"I don't have a good feel for that," Nancy Guthrie said. "Personally, I'm very much against Flock cameras."
For all the attention the issue is receiving on the campaign trail, Iowa voters have yet to hear much about what legal limits candidates would actually impose on police surveillance.
The post Iowa Voters Don't Want Police or Flock Tracking Their Cars. Politicians Are Still Catching Up. appeared first on Reason Magazine.
France has deployed 70,000 police officers and gendarmes ahead of nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, with authorities warning of a heightened risk of unrest after vandalism and looting damaged about 3,000 businesses the previous week.
RELATED: France Reports 855 Arrests in Paris After Protests
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu warned late Friday that the threat remained high, particularly from radical far-left groups and criminal elements operating alongside demonstrations called by trade unions, students and the Yellow Vest movement.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced a large-scale security operation to prevent further violence and looting.
“We will show no mercy to looters and troublemakers,” Nuñez declared. He has faced criticism from the left over police tactics and from the right for failing to prevent the previous week’s unrest.
France to mobilise 70,000 security forces for Saturday protest, interior minister says https://t.co/ok4e8kEy5t https://t.co/ok4e8kEy5t
— Reuters World (@ReutersWorld) October 23, 2026
Authorities have banned gatherings in numerous cities and restricted the routes of other demonstrations on security grounds, prompting criticism from trade unions and human rights organizations.
In major cities, trade union demonstrations were authorized on Saturday only in Paris, Marseille, Strasbourg, Lille, Mulhouse, Grenoble, Toulouse and Amiens.
In Paris, a last-minute change to the union march’s route sparked a dispute between police officials and organizers. Authorities cited the heightened threat following a racist attack on the outskirts of the capital the previous day as they redirected the march from Place de la Nation to Place d’Italie, keeping it away from the city center.
Several museums in the capital, including the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, will remain closed, as will the nearby Palace of Versailles. A nighttime curfew in the areas around Place de la République and Les Halles will also remain in force until Monday.
Banks and businesses in central Paris were boarding up shopfronts and windows late Friday and early Saturday in anticipation of possible vandalism, according to observations by Spanish news agency EFE.
Security concerns also extend to Orléans, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) south of Paris, where the far-right National Rally (RN) is holding a congress to formally launch Marine Le Pen’s presidential candidacy, roughly six months before the election.
Authorities estimated that 11,000 people took part in a counter-demonstration in Orléans on Saturday against Le Pen’s party. Organized in opposition to racism, fascism and imperialism, the march proceeded peacefully in a festive atmosphere, according to EFE.
Protesters chanted slogans including “Macron resign, Le Pen to prison” and sang the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, as well as the Spanish-language protest song “The People United Will Never Be Defeated.”
Authorities deployed about 3,000 officers in Orléans to prevent clashes between demonstrators and attendees at the RN congress. The local prefecture authorized Saturday’s march but banned a separate demonstration planned for Sunday.
The security measures reflect the authorities’ efforts to prevent further disorder while allowing some demonstrations to proceed. Restrictions on public gatherings and the deployment of thousands of officers have shaped preparations for Saturday’s rallies across France.
© Dakota Santiago for The New York Times
Avec celle des transports, la question de la sécurité donne des sueurs froides aux organisateurs de grands événements. Le gouvernement a-t-il tiré toutes les leçons de la finale de la Ligue des champions de football en juin 2022 ? Un retour sur ce fiasco permet d'éclairer les dysfonctionnements majeurs de l'organisation et d'une approche anachronique.
La finale de la plus prestigieuse compétition interclubs de football, organisée par l'Union des associations européennes de football (UEFA) opposant Le Liverpool Football Club (LFC) au Real Madrid, le 28 mai 2022 à Saint-Denis, a offert à des centaines de millions de téléspectateurs l'image d'un chaos ainsi que du fiasco de l'organisation et de l'ordre public « à la française ». Seuls le sang-froid et les capacités d'adaptation des supporters liverpuldiens ont permis d'éviter un drame d'ampleur. Des milliers d'entre eux ont risqué l'écrasement du fait des défaillances des autorités. Ils furent ensuite pris en étau entre des agresseurs tentant de les dépouiller et une police dépassée recourant à la force de manière intempestive et sans discernement.
La première cause du désordre est liée à l'acheminement d'une partie des spectateurs vers le Stade de France : les itinéraires fléchés, les dispositifs de fouille et de contrôle des billets n'étaient pas dimensionnés pour une absorption efficace des flux humains. Dès lors, la densité de la foule accumulée a fait craindre le pire. Le match a débuté avec 36 minutes de retard, plusieurs milliers de personnes détentrices de billets n'ont pu assister à la première mi-temps et des centaines d'autres n'ont rien vu de la rencontre. L'après-match fut à nouveau le théâtre de nombreux vols à l'arraché. Plusieurs milliers de supporters relatent la désorganisation, le manque d'informations, la colère et la peur générées. Cette soirée mondialement télévisée a donné l'image d'un hôte mal préparé, soumis à une délinquance massive, et de forces de l'ordre débordées répondant par une violence disproportionnée et exercée contre… les spectateurs.
Comment en est-on arrivé là, alors que la France dispose d'une solide expérience d'organisation de grands événements sportifs, en particulier à Saint-Denis ? Certes, la finale, initialement programmée à Saint-Pétersbourg, a été relocalisée tardivement en France, du fait de l'invasion de l'Ukraine par la Russie. Cette décision fortement soutenue par le président de la République n'a laissé que trois mois aux organisateurs, au lieu des dix-huit généralement consacrés à la planification d'une telle rencontre. Une grève partielle sur l'une des lignes de RER a bousculé l'organisation. Mais les problèmes d'insécurité autour du stade sont identifiés de longue date, tout comme les difficultés récurrentes d'accès à l'enceinte.
L'origine des décisions n'ayant pas permis d'enrayer cet enchaînement critique semble en réalité procéder de trois tendances. Tout d'abord, la prégnance d'une conception « confrontationnelle » et démonstrative du maintien de l'ordre apparaît en décalage avec les besoins de dialogue des spectateurs venant de l'étranger assister à un événement festif. Ensuite, un déséquilibre en termes de relations de pouvoir s'est instauré entre parties prenantes ; en particulier, la centralité de la préfecture de police de Paris (PP) a empêché de définir collectivement un dispositif de sécurité adéquat. Enfin, les réticences à s'inspirer des diverses expertises disponibles ont contribué à plusieurs approximations.
En France, la sécurisation des grands événements sportifs est essentiellement appréhendée sous l'angle du maintien de l'ordre — une priorité renforcée par la menace terroriste. Lors des rencontres de football en particulier, la discipline demandée aux spectateurs prend le pas sur l'accueil et le service aux personnes. Le décalage est notable par rapport aux dispositifs déployés dans d'autres pays européens et aux engagements pris dans ce même Stade de France, où la France avait organisé en 2016 la signature de la Convention du Conseil de l'Europe sur une approche intégrée de la sécurité, de la sûreté et des services lors des matches de football et autres manifestations sportives. Paris avait ratifié l'année suivante ce traité incitant à faire des supporters des partenaires pour organiser des « événements sûrs et conviviaux (1) ».
Les pouvoirs publics redoutaient des violences liées à la présence de hooligans, témoignant d'une vision anachronique des supporters de Liverpool : ceux d'aujourd'hui n'ont plus rien à voir avec ceux des années 1980 qui s'illustrèrent notamment durant le drame du Heysel (Bruxelles, 1985). La tactique de maintien de l'ordre choisie a conduit les autorités françaises à négliger la sécurité publique qu'auraient pu incarner les policiers en civil, habilités à interpeller et prévenir la délinquance visant les spectateurs. Peu mobiles, rapatriés derrière les grilles du stade afin d'empêcher les intrusions, les effectifs déployés n'ont pour leur part guère été en mesure d'enrayer les agressions.
Par ailleurs, le commandement de la PP avait pour objectif central de préserver la capitale d'éventuels débordements. Sur les 29 unités de force mobile mobilisées le 28 mai, composées chacune de 80 CRS, gendarmes mobiles ou membres de compagnies d'intervention de la PP, 9 étaient présentes aux environs du stade, 6 autour de la « fan zone » du cours de Vincennes (destinée aux supporters de Liverpool présents à Paris sans billet) et 4 sur des sites sensibles comme les Champs-Élysées. Ce déploiement a amoindri les capacités de réaction lorsque des désordres se sont produits à Saint-Denis. L'autonomie de la PP génère de surcroît une concurrence interservices avec la police nationale (2). Des enjeux de pouvoir ont altéré la pertinence du dispositif, puisque la PP a confié l'essentiel de la surveillance des secteurs sensibles à Paris aux CRS et aux gendarmes mobiles, renforçant la marge de manœuvre de ses unités propres au Stade de France. Or ces dernières n'ont ni expérience dans la gestion des supporters ni compétence en matière de gestion des foules. Du reste, l'usage disproportionné de gaz lacrymogènes relevait des membres des compagnies d'intervention de la PP.
Les effectifs de la PP sont connus pour exercer des formes dures de contrôle social (3). Leur recours débridé à la violence a choqué les supporters britanniques habitués à des interactions pacifiées avec les forces de l'ordre. Le niveau d'agressivité de la police est modulé par son commandement, lequel, dans le cas d'espèce, assume une approche dure du maintien de l'ordre : c'est la doctrine revendiquée par M. Didier Lallement, préfet de police de Paris (qui a dû quitter son poste peu après ces événements), M. Alexis Marsan, représentant le préfet au poste de commandement opérationnel du Stade de France, et M. Paul-Antoine Tomi, responsable de la mise en œuvre opérationnelle du dispositif de sécurité.
Les connaissances disponibles sur ces types de publics et leur encadrement émanant d'associations, d'universitaires, d'acteurs territoriaux, de journalistes ou encore de services spécialisés au sein de la police ont peu été prises en considération. La police britannique a par exemple transmis au renseignement français un portrait rassurant des supporters de Liverpool, soulignant leur comportement exemplaire en déplacement, leur respect des consignes policières, ainsi que la présence très peu probable de hooligans en région parisienne. Une note de la division nationale de lutte contre le hooliganisme synthétise ces éléments. Transmise le 25 mai à la PP, elle n'a pas été relayée aux autres parties prenantes ni fait l'objet d'échanges lors des réunions ultérieures.
L'association Football Supporters Europe (FSE) explique que les services de l'État n'étaient pas présents lors de l'habituelle visite préparatoire du site à laquelle elle participait. « Nous n'avons donc pu que constater une accumulation d'erreurs, sans pouvoir influer sur le déroulement des événements », témoigne son directeur général. Depuis 2019, cette association ne dispose plus de canal de communication avec la PP et le ministère de l'intérieur. En tout état de cause, la centralisation du pouvoir a soustrait plusieurs décisions clés au discernement collectif — comme le cadrage décalé du maintien de l'ordre et le choix d'un itinéraire d'acheminement inadapté, car bien trop étroit.
À mesure qu'approchait la finale, la PP a été de moins en moins encline à coopérer, comme en atteste l'enquête indépendante de l'UEFA : « il n'existait aucun mécanisme permettant d'infléchir les opérations de police, ou de faire remonter le problème par une partie prenante autre que la police (4). » La Fédération française de football (FFF) a ainsi subi un passage en force de la PP. Chargée d'orienter les supporters des stations de transport en commun vers le stade, elle avait mis en place un fléchage destiné à limiter les effets de la grève sur la ligne du RER B. L'objectif était d'éviter l'engorgement de l'accès au stade le plus direct à la sortie du RER D, où s'est concentré l'essentiel des difficultés de transit. Le 23 mai, la PP a ordonné le démontage de cette signalétique de délestage, estimant qu'elle perturbait ses habitudes de travail. Cette décision, qui constitue une des causes de l'échec, n'a pas été évoquée lors des réunions de coordination.
L'UEFA a admis que la délégation de ses prérogatives sécuritaires à la FFF et aux services de police a été excessive, s'apparentant à une forme de dessaisissement de sa responsabilité. À une autre échelle, au sein du poste de commandement opérationnel du stade, alors que les signes d'une dégradation rapide de la situation étaient sans ambiguïté, les responsables de l'UEFA n'ont pas osé faire état de la nécessité d'infléchir le dispositif, doutant que le commandant de police suive leurs conseils.
À la suite des auditions menées par le Sénat, l'une des recommandations invite à réaffirmer le rôle de coordination de la délégation interministérielle aux grands événements sportifs (Diges) (5). Cela trahit la difficulté de cette dernière à s'émanciper de la tutelle de la PP, en dépit d'une expertise reconnue.
Dès la mi-temps de la rencontre, le ministre de l'intérieur a attribué les problèmes survenus à la présence de 30 000 à 40 000 supporters de Liverpool sans billet ou munis de faux, alors que l'intensité de la fraude était assez habituelle pour ce type de match (moins de 2 500 faux billets auraient circulé). Cette stigmatisation a généré des réactions indignées au Royaume-Uni. Ces déclarations prématurées comme le verrouillage de la communication gouvernementale ou la disparition des images de vidéosurveillance ont empêché la mise en œuvre d'un retour d'expérience transparent, car cela aurait conduit les acteurs impliqués à contredire la posture du ministre. L'occasion de progresser en matière de sécurité (avec en ligne de mire les Jeux olympiques) n'a ainsi pas pu être complètement saisie.
Le gouvernement entend répondre par une accélération technologique et le biais de la vidéosurveillance et des algorithmes de reconnaissance faciale stimulée par des opportunités de marché (6). À supposer qu'elle puisse apporter une plus-value sécuritaire, la mise en œuvre de tels dispositifs nécessitera des phases de test et une appropriation qui ne seront guère effectives en quelques mois. Elle soulève aussi des questions éthiques et de respect de la vie privée pourtant promptement balayées par le Sénat et l'Assemblée nationale.
(1) Conseil de l'Europe, Convention sur une approche intégrée de la sécurité, de la sûreté et des services lors des matches de football et autres manifestations sportives (STCE n° 218), 3 juillet 2016, Saint-Denis.
(2) « La Préfecture de police de Paris, Réformer pour mieux assurer la sécurité dans l'agglomération parisienne » (PDF), Cour des comptes, 16 décembre 2019.
(3) Anne Wuilleumier (sous la dir. de), « Désescalade de la violence et gestion des foules protestataires. Quelle(s) articulation(s) en France et en Europe aujourd'hui ? », Institut national des hautes études de la sécurité et de la justice (INHESJ), Défenseur des droits, juillet 2021.
(4) « Independent Review 2022 UEFA Champions League Final » (PDF), février 2023.
(5) François-Noël Buffet et Laurent Lafon, « Rapport d'information sur les incidents survenus au Stade de France le 28 mai 2022 », n° 776, Sénat, 13 juillet 2022.
(6) Lire Thomas Jusquiame, « Des villes verrouillées au nom de la sécurité », Le Monde diplomatique, janvier 2024.
Earlier this week, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said that the police shooting of 1-year-old boy Kohen Wiley in a Walmart parking lot earlier this year was a "justified" use of force. On Thursday, Sgt. Hunter Foster, the Senatobia police officer who shot Wiley, resigned from the department.
Foster's resignation comes after a tumultuous week for the Mississippi attorney general's office and the Senatobia Police Department (SPD). After Finch ruled the shooting a justified use of force on Monday, DarkHorse Press leaked footage of the body camera video from officers at the scene, along with Walmart surveillance video. On Thursday, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety released more footage, including from the bodycam of Foster, which WLBT News obtained. Together, the footage shows a less cut-and-dry incident than what statements from Fitch and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation imply.
Surveillance footage shows Kohen's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and her friend running to their car from the Walmart entrance as Wiley holds baby Kohen in her arms. Police officers soon enter the frame chasing the duo. After getting in the car, Wiley's friend backs out of the parking spot and hits another parked car. The officers crowd around the vehicle, drawing their guns and shouting "stop." Foster places himself directly in front of the vehicle, his gun primed and ready. The driver puts the car in gear and accelerates toward the officers. According to his bodycam footage, Foster, one of the two officers in the vehicle's path, lets off three shots as he hops out of the way and continues to aim his gun at the car as it passes him. It appears that at least one of the shots pierced the front windshield, while the others came through the window on the passenger side, where Kohen was sitting on his mother's lap. The car then drove away, and officers gave chase.
After reviewing the footage, Ben Crump, the Wiley family attorney, said during a Thursday press conference that the police officers "never ever should have drawn their weapons for a misdemeanor shoplifting allegation."
"The shot from the side of the vehicle was not justified," he added. "[Foster] was not in harm's way when he shot from the side." He claims that the shot that killed Kohen came from the side, corroborating an independent autopsy the family conducted.
Martin Zummach, an attorney for Foster, told the Associated Press that the driver "tried to kill" his client and other officers at the scene, giving Foster "no choice but to fire his weapon." He said it was "strictly muscle memory" that led Foster to fire those additional shots, according to WSB News. "The one that went through the side glass that everybody's going crazy about? That's because she was moving so fast," he said.
Regardless of whether the car was "moving so fast," Foster, who moved out of the vehicle's path, clearly had the choice not to fire his weapon. But instead of de-escalating the situation, the police officers decided to draw their guns and step in front of a vehicle, turning an incident involving an alleged shoplifter fleeing a misdemeanor into a life-or-death game of chicken.
The post Mississippi Cop Who Shot 1-Year-Old Kohen Wiley Resigns After State Calls Shooting 'Justified' appeared first on Reason Magazine.
© Abdul Saboor/Reuters
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