General Chat

French police officer killed by gunman in 'targeted' Paris attack.


http://news.sky.com/story/french-police-officer-killed-by-gunman-in-paris-terror-attack-10844372

Such sad news :-( :-(

A second policeman reported killed now :-(

This is getting to be something we are hearing so regularly now.
What is the world coming to?

Two Policemen killed that's tragic :-(

Is it any surprise that it's now reported that more than half of the French police will be voting for Le Pen it seems due to her views/comment on terrorist.

Only one policeman was killed. The 2nd shot oficer is recovering OK in hospital.

France has two police forces, the commisariat and the gendarmes. The commisariat are roughly the same as UK police. They carry hand guns which are very rarely used.
They have heavier weapons when needed.
The officers shot on the Champs were from the commisariat. Their politics generally reflect the population as a whole being close to the area they work in. Many are Muslim / black and 50% support for lePen inconceivable.

The second, smaller force is the para military gendarmerie who deal with serious crime and terrorism. They are armed to the teeth. The gendarmes are well known for their neo fascist attitudes and are unpopular in the major cities.

All of the effective action against the terrorists has been by the police not the gendarmerie.

My Oh has voted if course. The polls have the first round v tight which is not unusual. It is also not unusual for le Pen(father or daughter) to win the first round only to be flattened in the 2nd round which is the top 2 from the first round. Any ukippers in the UK hoping for a le Pen win will be disappointed.

France also has parliamentary elections in June. The Fn have zero support in parliament and that is unlikely to change.

none of the likely winners favour a "good deal" for brexit esp Fillon and Macron. As an issue brexit has barely figured in the campaign.

Vive la France