A-Infos (en) France, PCL: What does Laurent Nuñez represent? (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Regardless of the government, left or right, the Ministers appointed to 
the Interior Ministry are not chosen at random. Each time, they 
correspond to a certain type of stance that can be described as 
security-focused. What about Laurent Nuñez, appointed at a time when the 
rise of the far right to power is becoming a far too plausible prospect? 
Interior Ministers may come and go, but there are constants among those 
who hold the position, the first being blind support for their 
repressive forces, regardless of the evidence of wrongdoing, or even 
crimes and offenses. For example, Darmanin, in his time, declared, "When 
I hear the words 'police violence,' I choke."

Laurent Nuñez, for his part, doesn't mince words: he prefers to try to 
silence those who dare to point out the deviant behavior of the police 
force. To this end, he is waging a cultural battle aligned with the far 
right. His specialty, his signature move, so to speak, is attacking 
creativity. Appointed Minister of the Interior on October 12, 2025, this 
prefect, a former tax inspector, distinguished himself in at least three 
attacks against freedom of expression, art, and creativity in less than 
four months.

The first episode: the complaint against the comedian Pierre-Emmanuel 
Barré. In a segment on the Radio Nova program "La Dernière," during 
which he listed recent, well-documented and verified cases of police 
violence, rape, and other crimes, Barré declared: "Rapes, mutilations, 
murders, and guys filming themselves doing it all while 
laughing-basically, the police and the gendarmerie are ISIS with job 
security."

An attack on the law
Immediately, the Minister of the Interior dismissed the joke as 
"unacceptable" and filed a complaint with the Paris prosecutor's office, 
bowing to pressure from the Unité SGP Police-Force Ouvrière union. He 
conveniently forgets that the official duties of his office include 
defending civil liberties. However, his duties do not include defending 
the self-serving sensitivities of his constituents.

Despite this outright attack on the right to caricature, Laurent Nuñez 
posted two photos on his X account, a social network owned by Elon Musk, 
a figure in the fascist international and a specialist in spreading 
disinformation, accompanied by the comment: "Tribute to the 11 victims 
killed in the Charlie Hebdo offices 11 years ago, and to police 
lieutenant Ahmed Merabet. Support to their families, friends, and 
colleagues who mourn them and keep their memory alive. Unwavering 
determination to fight against Islamist terrorism that shatters innocent 
lives." While he sees no contradiction in paying tribute to the Charlie 
Hebdo martyrs while simultaneously trying to silence a comedian, we are 
nonetheless justified in seeing a clear inconsistency, a particularly 
cynical opportunism, and blatant bad faith.

Second episode: the lawsuit against La Horde and the publishing house 
Libertalia for the game Fachorama. This educational game helps players 
understand the different components of the far right and their 
relationships. It is clearly a politically motivated creation. What 
infuriates Laurent Nuñez is that the game includes two "Racist Cop" cards:

The racist cop from the BAC (Anti-Crime Brigade) who "engages in racial 
profiling, harassment of young people of color, and hunts down 
protesters: while he may only be perpetuating state racism, he is eager 
to go the extra mile in every mission. Of course, he's one of the 60% of 
police officers who vote for the far right!";

And the racist cop in the CRS (Riot Control Unit) responsible for 
"destroying migrant camps, repressing demonstrations, and evicting 
squatters: while he may only be perpetuating state racism, he is eager 
to go the extra mile in every mission. Of course, he's one of the 60% of 
police officers who vote for the far right!" "Clearly, Laurent Nuñez 
doesn't like a game reminding people of this proven fact: two-thirds of 
law enforcement officers vote for the far right. This isn't some leftist 
fabrication, but a very serious study by CEVIPOF4, conducted by a CNRS 
research director, showing that 58% of police officers and soldiers 
voted for the National Rally or Reconquête in the June 2024 European 
elections, 60% in the first round of the 2024 legislative elections, and 
67% in the second round. The description given in Fachorama is therefore 
well-founded and purely factual."

The Trumpification of Political Elites in France Too

But Laurent Nuñez is little concerned with the facts. The Trumpian 
syndrome seems to have more than infected him. What matters is his 
feeling, his belief, not the work of researchers. Like his predecessors, 
he constantly talks about the "republican police" and the "defense of 
republican values," without ever actually defining what it means, just 
like his predecessors. These are rather ludicrous assertions when 
two-thirds of the repressive apparatus supports a far-right agenda.

Third episode: the Mulhouse piñata affair. On January 29, students from 
the Haute École des Arts du Rhin (HEAR) in Mulhouse staged an art 
performance as part of a project on Carnival. A piñata in the shape of a 
police car contained press clippings relating to police violence, in 
France but also elsewhere in the world. The artists smash the piñata 
with sticks: that's the very principle of a piñata! Then they read the 
texts. A deputy mayor of Mulhouse films the scene, edits it out, and the 
mayor of Mulhouse, a member of the Republicans party, immediately 
denounces it as an "outrageous performance."

Police officers are urgently dispatched to the scene to investigate this 
highly serious act of lèse-police. For the mayor, mobilizing police 
against an artistic performance is more urgent than, for example, 
fighting drug trafficking.

Bruno Retailleau, president of the Republicans and former Minister of 
the Interior, seizes the opportunity to attack the far right and 
denounces "the far-left ideology that is corrupting part of our 
institutions."

As for Laurent Nuñez, he calls for a judicial inquiry to "determine 
responsibility." He chooses to disregard both freedom of expression and 
academic freedom in order to mobilize state resources in support of the 
incumbent mayor's nauseating propaganda campaign for re-election. Will 
he go so far as to sue every website selling police car piñatas? A 
simple web search yields numerous options for just a few dozen euros. 
Will he launch an investigation for every child's birthday party whose 
theme and activities he hasn't approved?

Despite Laurent Nuñez graduating from the "Cyrano de Bergerac" class of 
the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA), he possesses neither panache 
nor culture. He is, in fact, an enemy of culture, creativity, and 
freedom of expression, as these three examples illustrate.

This relentless pursuit is part of a broader trend of eroding values. 
Thus, CNews claims to defend freedom of expression, when in reality this 
channel is demanding the right to lie, for example about climate change, 
or to commit crimes, particularly incitement to hatred. The idea is 
gradually taking hold in society, without being contradicted in the 
slightest by figures like Laurent Nuñez, that freedom of expression, a 
value that most people view positively, consists of being able to spew 
racist or ecocidal lies. This Orwellian reversal makes it possible to 
attack and ostracize true freedom of expression, such as the freedom to 
criticize the rise of the far right and violence, particularly within 
the police force.

This is the French manifestation of Trumpian logic. When Donald Trump 
and JD Vance proclaim the "impunity" of Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement (ICE), Laurent Nuñez supports the presumption of 
self-defense for police officers. When American fascists label the 
Minneapolis resistance fighters as "domestic terrorists," Laurent Nuñez, 
following in the footsteps of Gérald Darmanin who saw "eco-terrorists" 
in Sainte-Soline, criminalizes the slightest criticism of the police and 
instrumentalizes the justice system to silence all dissent.

In other words, what Laurent Nuñez represents is the rise of Trumpian 
logic in France.

1 See 
https://www.lemonde.fr/televisions-radio/article/2025/11/15/radio-nova-defend-la-liberte-d-expression-apres-une-plainte-de-laurent-nunez-contre-l-humoriste-pierre-emmanuel-barre_6653555_1655027.html

2 See 
https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2023/10/27/un-an-de-desinformation-et-d-errements-strategiques-d-elon-musk-sur-x-anciennement-twitter-en-quarante-dates-cles_6196856_4355770.html

3 See https://www.editionslibertalia.com/blog/fachorama-liberation-251203

4 See 
https://www.sciencespo.fr/cevipof/sites/sciencespo.fr.cevipof/files/Noteelectionseuropeennesetlegislatives_LR_votedesfonctionnaires_septembre2024_V2.pdf

5 See 
https://www.liberation.fr/culture/a-mulhouse-laffaire-ridicule-de-la-pinata-voiture-de-police-20260202_ZIDXCAKM5VHCDMYLWBLJ72ASRA 
and 
https://cgtservicespublics.fr/IMG/pdf/hear_1_.pdf?41918/07f354499a06313dbe7d54f9ac8710ad8ba92e6dcd0ee8a2ec07301472265baa

6 See 
https://www.francebleu.fr/grand-est/alsace-cea/lutte-contre-le-narcotrafic-un-reseau-de-drogue-demantele-dans-le-haut-rhin-11-personnes-interpellees-2727369 
or 
https://www.lalsace.fr/faits-divers-justice/2026/01/13/le-grossiste-en-stupefiants-belette-et-son-equipe-condamnes 
for some news on the subject.

7 See 
https://quotaclimat.org/actualites/desinformation-climatique-medias-francais-et-bresiliens/

8 See 
https://www.telerama.fr/television/cnews-condamne-a-200-000-euros-d-amende-apres-des-propos-racistes-d-eric-zemmour-7024032.php

9 See 
https://www.cgtetat.fr/fonction-publique-163/vie-des-ministeres-et-ddi-dri/interieur/article/laurent-nunez-et-la-tentation-de-l-impunite-policiere-communique-cgt-police

10 See 
https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/05/17/l-ecoterrorisme-une-arme-politique-pour-discrediter-la-radicalite-ecologiste_6173782_3232.html

https://plateformecl.org/de-quoi-laurent-nunez-est-il-le-nom/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en