The Alliance Police Nationale union has launched what it describes as an unprecedented appeal to citizens to mobilize against what it considers an out-of-control level of insecurity across France due to rising migrant crime, with coordinated marches planned in 24 major cities on Saturday, Jan. 31.
In a national statement, the union warned that “France is sinking into insecurity,” arguing that crime is “organizing, structuring itself and becoming radicalized,” while “the State is retreating.” Alliance said police officers were continuing to protect the public “at the risk of their lives,” but without sufficient staff, adequate resources, or “real legal protection.”
“The National Police is at its breaking point, and officers are exhausted,” the union said, adding that “citizens suffer from insecurity and victims are forgotten.”
The call to action is being framed as a civic mobilization, with Alliance and other member organizations of the CFE-CGC urging the participation of citizens, internal security forces, elected officials, and victims’ associations. Together, they want to send a clear message: “STOP to promises without actions, STOP to the collapse of authority, STOP to insecurity, and STOP to impunity.”
In Lyon, expected to be the focal point of the mobilization, the union’s local leadership has painted an especially stark picture of the situation in the metropolitan area, as reported by LyonMag. According to the union, violent crimes such as homicides and attempted homicides rose by 15 percent in the Lyon area in 2025 compared with Marseille.
“Lyon and its metropolitan area have crossed a line; we’re no longer dealing with drug trafficking, but with narco-terrorism,” said Alain Barberis, departmental secretary of Alliance Police Nationale in the Rhône, in comments to LyonMag. He referred to “acts of mutilation and torture” and said, “We have truly crossed a threshold in terrorization, in the radicalization of criminal networks linked to turf wars fueled by drug trafficking.”
Barberis also pointed to what he described as extreme “everyday violence,” citing a surge in snatch thefts and aggravated robberies. He said, “60 percent of these are committed by undocumented immigrants,” he said. “We can see, therefore, that more than half of these crimes are committed by undocumented immigrants, some of whom are already subject to deportation orders, and this demonstrates a real problem with the system today.”
He argued that Lyon is suffering from a severe imbalance in policing resources. “Lyon has surpassed Marseille in terms of crime, and yet the police force is much smaller in Lyon than in Marseille,” Barberis said, adding, “We no longer have the capacity to ensure the safety of Lyon’s residents.”
Despite what he described as the “good intentions” of local government services, Barberis said authorities were “trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon.” He highlighted “serious shortages of personnel” not only within the police but also in the justice system, saying that “the Lyon public prosecutor’s office has the same problems in terms of staffing as the Rhône police.”
“These shortcomings lead to tragedies; there are some, and there will be even more if nothing is done,” he warned.
The union’s warning comes against a broader backdrop of concern about the strain on France’s security forces. Figures published in December 2025 showed that the number of gendarmes who took their own lives rose by 24 percent in 2024, to 26 cases. David Ramos, president of GendXXI, the first professional association for military personnel in the gendarmerie, said there had been “no recent improvement in suicide management and prevention policies” and spoke of persistent “institutional inaction.”
Ramos cited increasing workloads, staff who are not replaced when they leave, poor equipment, and a growing sense of abandonment. “The more tensions rise in society, the more we are called upon, often in violent contexts,” he said, noting that gendarmes are increasingly confronted with child abuse, pornography, and terrorism, while also feeling resentment from parts of the public. “The gendarmerie increasingly feels it is losing its soul and the meaning of its mission,” he said.
Concerns about public safety have also been raised in relation to women’s security, particularly on public transport. Data released in March 2025 by the National Observatory on Violence against Women showed an 86 percent increase in victims on buses and trains over the past ten years. In 2024, there were 3,374 victims of sexual violence on public transport, with women accounting for 91 percent of victims, 75 percent of whom were under 30, and 36 percent were minors.
Recent high-profile incidents have added to public unease. In November 2025, a 56-year-old man died two weeks after being stabbed at the Perrache tram station in Lyon. The victim was attacked in front of multiple witnesses and later died in the hospital. The suspect, a 32-year-old homeless man originally from Guadeloupe, was transferred to a psychiatric unit before being re-arrested after the investigation was reclassified as a homicide.
Alliance Police Nationale said it hopes the Jan. 31 mobilization will send “a strong and clear message to the government and all political leaders.”
“We can’t say we’re at war if there isn’t an army behind it,” Barberis said. “There’s a huge gap between words and actions.”
