Police Chief Clarifies: No Ramadan Restrictions on Law Enforcement in Calvados

"The national police intervene everywhere throughout the territory to ensure the safety of people and property, whatever the circumstances," recalled the head of the national police in a message relayed by AFP.

However, "there is no need to intervene in neighborhoods with a high concentration of population following Ramadan, to report noise, to control a gathering of people gathered after sunset to feed themselves," it is written in the telex sent by the chief of staff of the departmental Directorate of Public Security (DDSP) of Calvados to the heads of department services. The note specifies that these restrictions do not concern "attacks on persons or serious attacks on property".

The head of the Calvados police also asked all DDSP personnel to exercise discernment in this matter, in order to prevent a failure to comply with the confinement rules from degenerating and causing a higher disturbance of urban violence.

For the entourage of the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, this is an incomprehensible local initiative, on which the Director General of the National Police has requested a report. Moreover, the instructions of the chief of staff of the departmental Directorate of Public Security (DDSP) of Calvados contradict the statements of the Secretary of State for the Interior, Laurent Nuñez on the subject. The latter had stated on Europe 1 that there had never been any instructions to relax controls in any territory of the Republic, including in the neighborhoods.