In the grounds of Bourges Cathedral, a few hundred gendarmes and their loved ones gathered yesterday to celebrate Sainte-Geneviève, celebrated on January 3. In a very spiritual atmosphere, Jérôme Beau, Archbishop of Bourges, presided over the mass.
For more than an hour, to the rhythm of the building’s great organ, restored last April, the ceremony was filled with songs and prayers, notably that of the gendarmes, taken up in chorus by the large assembly: “I must be vigilant against men who can become evildoers, violent, criminals. »
“For you, I will never give up anything”
At the end of the mass, the Duc-Jean-de-Berry room hosted the second part of the ceremony, secular this time. The opportunity to mark the evening with a retrospective of the commitments and challenges that the Cher gendarmerie group had to face in the year 2024.
Colonel Olivier Caussanel, commander of the Cher gendarmerie group, first to speak, first underlined the collective efforts. Those of the 250 gendarmes mobilized during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and Châteauroux. Those of the gendarmes who participated in the 80th anniversary of the landing. To “these occasional reinforcements”, at the start of the year, who left for New Caledonia in a difficult political and social context. And, recently, those who volunteered “for 45 days or more to reach Mayotte”, after the passage of Cyclone Chido, whose official toll, at the time of his speech, was 31 dead. “One of our gendarmes from Saint-Florent-sur-Cher left for Mayotte this morning,” announced the officer.
The colonel continued, specifying that the Cher gendarmerie has intensified its presence on the ground, with reinforced actions “against domestic violence, attacks on people and property”. Strengthening also on road safety with a decline in the number of victims on the roads and more than 1,300 driving licenses withdrawn this year, “after the sad record of last year”.
Strengths as well as weaknesses, the chief of gendarmes also recognizes the flaws which marked this year, with the “sensitive subject of real estate affairs”.
The prefect of Cher, Maurice Barate, concluded the evening by paying tribute to the gendarmes and other holders of public authority. “For you, I will never give up anything,” he declared, echoing Bruno Retailleau, Minister of the Interior, while condemning the attacks and violence to which the gendarmes are regularly victims.
