On Friday 2 October 2026, shortly after noon, students demonstrate in front of the Lycée Aristide-Maillol in Perpignan; tear gas is used that day (Made in Perpignan). Union teachers present spot a police officer in riot-control gear wearing symbols in vogue in far-right circles (L’Indépendant, excerpt read via Titres Presse).
The video shot by Made in Perpignan shows this police officer facing female students and female teachers. He is heard repeating “stop touching me, madam” (translated), then answering a female student who complains of having been gassed by asking whether she will say the same thing when “blédards” or “pieces of shit” want to rape her and they are gassed. According to the outlet, he touches a female teacher without her consent, telling her “I like it” (translated); she has referred the matter to the IGPN (police internal affairs).
On his vest, no RIO identification number is visible. He does, however, wear the “Molon Labe” patch (a Spartan helmet and a Greek motto, appropriated according to the outlet by the far right) and that of the “Gunfighters”, a motorcycle club reserved for law enforcement.
Follow-up
On 5 October, the prefecture states that “the police officer has been identified” and that “a pre-disciplinary administrative investigation was immediately launched” (translated) (Made in Perpignan). The teacher referred the matter to the IGPN (police internal affairs).
On 7 October, the prefect of the Pyrénées-Orientales says on ICI Roussillon that this police officer’s behaviour “shocked him greatly” and is “absolutely not representative of the excellent work provided by the 920 national police officers of the Pyrénées-Orientales” (translated), that the police officer has been removed from the public highway, that disciplinary proceedings are under way and that he arrived at the Perpignan police three weeks earlier (ICI). On the same day franceinfo publishes a report in which the teacher agrees to testify: the article speaks of a police officer “accused” of racist and sexist remarks (franceinfo, partly read: headline and standfirst).