France unites to mourn officer
Presidential hopefuls attend a memorial for an ‘everyday hero’ killed by a gunman on the Champs-Elysees.
PARIS — The two candidates in France’s hotly contested presidential election called a brief truce Tuesday to honor a police officer gunned down last week on the Champs-Elysees.
Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron and the far right’s Marine Le Pen attended an emotional memorial for Xavier Jugele, a 37year-old officer who was gunned down Thursday while sitting in a police vehicle on the famous Paris avenue.
In a commemoration service at Paris’ police headquarters, outgoing French President Francois Hollande described Jugele as an “everyday hero.”
“France has lost one of its bravest sons,” Hollande said.
He awarded Jugele the chevalier rank of the Legion of Honor, one of France’s highest honors, and promoted him to captain.
Jugele’s partner in a civil union, Etienne Cardiles, gave a tribute to the officer in which he said he would not hate the gunman, identified by authorities as Frenchman Karim Cheurfi, 39.
Authorities have said Cheurfi, who was shot and killed by police after he opened fire on officers, had carried a note defending the militant group Islamic State, which later claimed responsibility for the attack. Cheurfi had been imprisoned for attempted homicide after attacking two police officers in 2001.
“I suffer without shame. You will not have my hatred,” Cardiles said, echoing the words of Antoine Leiris, who lost his wife, Helene, in the Nov. 13, 2015, attack on the Bataclan concert hall in which 90 people died.
Jugele was one of the officers dispatched to the Bataclan as terrorists carried out attacks across Paris.
Cardiles told how he and Jugele, a member of an association of LGBTQ police officers, had exchanged text messages on the day of his death about a vacation they were planning. He said Jugele had been “assuring the security of the public on the belle avenue the Champs-Elysees.”
“I know this mission pleased you because it was the Champs and the image of France. At that time and in that place the worst happened for you and your colleagues. It was one of those events everyone dreads while hoping it will never happen,” Cardiles said, his voice breaking.
“You were killed instantly. I came home that evening alone .... I am suffering without hate. You will stay in my heart forever. I love you. Let’s remain dignified. Let’s live in peace.”
During the ceremony, Macron and Le Pen stood well apart, surrounded by others in a courtyard. The two on Sunday received the most votes among candidates in the first round of France’s presidential election and face a May 7 runoff.
The candidates also attended campaign events Tuesday.
Macron visited a hospital in the afternoon, but journalists and camera crews were unable to cover the event as his campaign team had reportedly forgotten to seek approval. Afterward, he said that he was proud to have received more votes than Le Pen on Sunday, but that he had taken heed of Hollande’s warning that his victory “could not be taken for granted.”
Earlier in the day, Le Pen had visited the Rungis wholesale food market, where she criticized Macron, saying he stood for “total deregulation” of the economy while she stood for “market regulation” to protect France’s food producers from competition. She ignored boos from several sellers of fruit and vegetables.
“Let’s promote the idea of ‘eating French,’ especially in [school] canteens, where our children must take advantage of healthy, quality products,” she said.
Also Tuesday, Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, who founded the far-right National Front party in the 1970s, told France Inter radio he thought his daughter had run a campaign that was “too laid back.” She should have undertaken “Trumpstyle” electioneering that would have been “very aggressive against those who are responsible for the country’s decadency,” he said.
He said he would still vote for her.