NAN-F-57
Crime
Paris, Feb. 17, 2017 (dpa/NA N) Emmanuel Macron, the centrist candidate in April 23 and May 7, France’s presidential election, Friday called for “zero tolerance’’ toward crime and police abuses.
Macrons stated his stand while commenting on social issues in an interview with right-leaning newspaper, Le Figaro, amid ongoing trouble in Paris’ suburbs involving a policeman who allegedly sodomised a young black man during an arrest, two weeks ago.
Macron, a former economy minister, who has been criticised by rivals for publishing few concrete policy proposals, said he wanted to employ 10,000 new police officers and gendarmes and build prisons for 15,000 inmates, if he wins the presidential election over five-year presidential mandate.
The candidate also called for more neighbourhood policing, saying, “When you only have riot police and rapid response units in an area that means that there is no day-to-day security.’’
“My republic is not multicultural, but whether we like it or not, the French republic is diverse,’’ he said.
Macron has moved into second place in most polls since conservative candidate Francois Fillon was hit by allegations that his wife received lucrative salary for a fake job as his parliamentary aide.
That sets him up for a likely run-off vote in May against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
Macron, who was a liberalising economy minister under the current Socialist Party President Francois Hollande, once again resisted being categorised as left-wing or right-wing.
“Those categories worked for yesterday’s world, not for the world of tomorrow,’’ he told Le Figaro. (Dpa/NAN)
AIJ/DUA
Edited by Abigael Joshua/Dada Ahmed