After a series of fatal shootings, the municipal police of Nantes want to be armed for their “security”

Nantes municipal police officers are on strike this Friday, June 12. They ask to be equipped with lethal weapons during their service. At the origin of these demands: four fatal shootings which affected several districts of Nantes in the space of a few weeks.

Signs and the deafening sound of the whistle constantly.

This Friday, June 12, municipal police officers were on strike to demand lethal weapons in the exercise of their duties. There were more than a hundred of them in front of the Nantes town hall.

“We have had 30 shooting episodes since the start of the year and we have had 4 violent gunshot deaths in the space of five weeks. Today, in Nantes, we don’t shoot to intimidate, today, we shoot to kill“, breathes Patrick, head of department at the municipal police of Nantes.

Like the vast majority of his colleagues, he requests authorization to carry lethal weapons to carry out his duties. “We are confronted with delinquents who are armed with automatic weapons, Kalashnikovs, submachine guns. And a taser will have no effect if by chance we are attacked or if people from Nantes are victims of shooting“, he adds.

Colleagues are very worried about their safety and the safety of residents.

Sylvie Daguin,

General Secretary of the labor force union for the city of Nantes

If some fear the abusive use of these lethal weapons on the part of the police, Noémie, supervisor of the evening brigades and head of the Sinophil brigade, does not have the same view: “Today, when you have it in the case, it is already a strong responsibility and it will mainly serve as a deterrent. This will be a last resort and believe me, no police officer would want to use it in their career.“

They are all waiting for answers from Johanna Rolland regarding their future, in particular Céline Peremarty, delegate in the Nantes Municipal Eco-Police section, who wants “concrete decisions, concrete progress, real awareness and, therefore, armament.“

De son côté, the municipalité affirms that “the Nantes municipal police are already armed in accordance with the legal framework and benefit from complete equipment, regularly renewed. The agents have electric pulse guns, incapacitating sprays, defense sticks, bulletproof vests, pedestrian cameras, protective shields and benefit from regular training in intervention and defense techniques. Since 2025, they can also rely on a dedicated dog brigade.“

Regarding lethal weaponry, the City specifies that the union organizations will be received in the coming days by Aïcha Bassal, assistant for human resources and social dialogue, and Denis Talledec, assistant for security.

In the Commerce district, in downtown Nantes, the municipal police work hand in hand with the national police. The two services regularly carry out joint operations, particularly at tram stops. This is why several national agents came to support their colleagues.

“From the moment municipal police officers equip themselves with a weapon and bulletproof protection, this means that they are likely to be fired upon, and the weapon is a means of responding”underlines one of them. For him, it is quite paradoxical to have national police officers armed on one side and municipal police officers in the open on the other. Equipping them with lethal weapons would make it possible to surrender these agents “autonomous“, according to the police officer.

He adds: “As far as the number of police officers is concerned, that doesn’t solve the difficulty. You can put 10 municipal police officers, if none can respond to someone who is armed, it will change absolutely nothing.“

In April 2025, the mayor of Saint-Nazaire chose to equip his municipal police with lethal weapons. “I give them the means to protect themselves because they themselves protect us“, explained the socialist councilor, David Samzun.

At the origin of these demands: four fatal shootings which affected several districts of Nantes in the space of a few weeks. The terror began at the end of April, in the Pin-Sec district, located northeast of Nantes, where an 18-year-old young man was killed by a bullet to the head.

Since then, the violence has not stopped, two other people lost their lives during the month of May. On June 4, a fourth victim was recorded, a young man of 18 years old. Four deaths in less than two months, all presumably linked to drug trafficking.

Invited on June 9 on our set, Antoine Leroy, prosecutor of Nantes, notes: “These are young people who are less and less afraid of what they risk.” However, he specifies that 75% of cases linked to drug trafficking are solved..

“We have the legal weapons. Now we need the soldiers to use them. Soldiers are police officers, gendarmes and magistrates. And when the two coincide, the French will see that the investigations are progressing much faster than what is perhaps happening today“, he concludes.

“If the situation is getting worse today, it is above all the result of years of neglect of working-class neighborhoods by institutions.“, says Louisa Battoy. Founder of the Casse Ta Routine association in the northern districts of Nantes, she has been supporting young people in their efforts, whether looking for employment, housing or integration, for more than 20 years.

Tired of this situation, she highlights the abolition of the local police in 2003, by Nicolas Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior in the Raffarin government. “The agents knew the first names of all the young people, there were relationships of trust that were created…“, she emphasizes.

But now the link is cut in favor of repression. Except that repression doesn’t work, we can see that clearly.

Louisa Battoy

Founder of the Casse Ta Routine association

The Nantes municipal police unions have filed an unlimited strike notice, the movement can therefore be renewed if they deem it necessary.

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