Soldiers as Police by Anja Johansen

Author:Anja Johansen [Johansen, Anja]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9781351148740
Google: 8pxADwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-11-28T01:31:48+00:00

In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the eighty-four recorded incidents where the army was mobilised for policing purposes reflect a wide range of events from ordinary crowd management to major incidents of popular unrest. Although the recorded cases constitute a very incomplete picture, they provide some clear indications of the diversity of incidents to which troops were called out.

The pattern of military intervention was, to some extent, influenced by the waves of strikes that hit the region, with military intervention often lasting for months. This happened during the three great strikes in the mining sector of Nord-Pas-de-Calais during October to November 1889, November 1891, and September to November 1893. This was also the case during the nationwide strikes in the mining and transport sectors, of October 1901 and of October to-November 1902.

The years 1903, 1904 and particularly 1906 were characterised by great strikes in the textile industry, the mining industry and confrontations over the implementation of the government’s anti-Catholic legislation.

The years 1907–1910 saw a series of nationwide strikes among public employees (postal and telegraph workers) and public service personnel, notably rail and tram workers, and gas and electricity employees. Finally the year 1911 was characterised by widespread food riots which are also reflected among the incidents of military involvement in policing.

Thirty-four of the recorded incidents were situations with some significant potential for unrest. In twenty cases troops were mobilised for more than one month, in eight cases the conflict lasted between two and six months.

In addition to the incidents linked to the major social and political conflicts of the day, half of the recorded incidents of mobilisation must be described as ordinary policing tasks or maintenance of order during very minor or local conflicts. All but one of the recorded incidents of troops performing ordinary police tasks occurred after 1900. These included maintaining order during a religious procession in the port towns of Dunkirk or St. Pol (nine incidents); at the occasion of an election or a political demonstration (two incidents); during a public execution (two incidents) or a public feast (one incident).

The practice of using troops for ordinary crowd management continued up until the eve of the First World War. As late as 1911, the Interior Minister told the prefects not to request military assistance for the maintenance of order during horse races.21 Compared to the mobilisation of thousands of troops for sensitive incidents of popular protest, crowd management never involved more than six hundred soldiers.

In addition to the mobilisation for crowd management, there were three recorded incidents where soldiers were called upon to undertake strike-bound work, to ensure essential services of railways, ports, and energy supply. Similarly soldiers were ordered to unload boats during labour disputes in the great ports and in October 1911 they were asked to remove rubbish from the streets during a strike among dustmen.

Troops were also mobilised on a regular basis to ensure the security of VIPs, including eight incidents where troops were called out when foreign heads of state were passing through the region to take the boat to Britain from Dunkirk.

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