On a morning press circuit this January 25, France’s interior minister Gérald Darmanin was in combative mood as he sparred with public radio host Léa Salamé over the 2020 death of Cédric Chouviat. An independent medical report released the previous day had reaffirmed the direct role police played in the death of the forty-two-year-old father of five, who repeatedly protested “I’m suffocating” as officers choked him in a prolonged stranglehold following a routine traffic stop.

“I don’t want this morning’s [program] to be transformed into an indictment hearing of the national police or the gendarmerie,” Darmanin retorted. “It’s time that we stop the police bashing — we’d all be better off for it.” The discussion petered out, shifting toward Darmanin’s “regret” that the State Council had rebuffed a government decree rebanning the sale and consumption of CBD, an entirely benign cannabis substitute.

Hours later, Emmanuel Macron’s right-wing interior minister launched another sally against the supposed epidemic of “police bashing.” During government questions before the National Assembly, Darmanin announced the imminent dissolution of the left-wing media platform and forum Nantes Révoltée (“Nantes in Revolt”).