Low morale among French border police has resulted in many walking off the job claiming sickness.
In the most recent case, eleven Border Police Officers (Police aux frontières, or PAF) in the Alpes-Maritimes have been on sick leave since Wednesday, December 27, to protest against working conditions on the Italian border, according to the union Unity SGP-Police.
The officers, from a Menton unit, were posted along with one more, in a mountain outpost at the Fanghetto border crossing in the Roya Valley, an entry point increasingly used by desperate migrants who have been unable to get into France along the coast.
Unity SGP-Police said the officers concerned are “simply tired and exhausted”. Their outpost has no running water or heating, despite the cold temperatures. Meanwhile, the
Prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes told AFP on Thursday, December 28, that it would follow “with great attention the PAF situation in Menton and the question of the working conditions of the police officers”.
While an investigation gets underway, the “sick” officers have been replaced by other national police normally posted in Nice.