A CRS officier in normal gear, standing by a Bastille Day parade The Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (often abbreviated to CRS) are the riot control forces and general reserve of the French National Police. Bastille Day is the French national holiday, celebrated on July 14th of each year. ...
Riot control are the measures to control a riot or to break up an unwanted demonstration (usually of protestors). ...
The National Police (Police Nationale) is the main civil law enforcement agency of France, with primary jurisdiction in cities and large towns. ...
In French, the whole force is correctly called les CRS (fem.pl.). In French slang, un CRS (masc.) may also mean "a CRS man". CRS vehicles and uniforms are recognizable by CRS logos.
The CRS were created in 1944 and reorganized in 1948. The task for which they are best known in popular culture is crowd and riot control and re-establishment of order. Their occasional abuse of force has led to recurring criticisms from demonstrators.
A famous slogan from the students revolts of May 1968 was "CRS = SS". More pleasantly, their initials could be subverted, for example in Car rempli de singes ("Coach full of monkeys"). May 1968 poster: Be young and keep quiet In May 1968 a general insurrection broke out across France. ...
SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop...
The CRS and the gendarmes mobiles are often mistaken for each other (they have about the same missions). Ways to distinguish them are: Gendarmes guarding the Paris Hall of Justice Gendarmerie motorcyclists police the roads and autoroutes of rural France. ...
- the uniform of the CRS is blue, the gendarmes mobiles are clad in black;
- the CRS wear a big red CRS patch; the gendarmes have stylicized grenades.
The word grenade can mean:- The well-known hand grenade commonly used by soldiers. ...
External link | 
Feeds |
Contact