Liberté, égalité, beuverie! French Riot Police Threaten Strike . . . To Protect Their Right To Drink On Job

This is the quintessential French story. Anyone who has gone to France knows that you can expect that someone will be striking and shutting down parts of Paris. However, the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) police force is taking a stand on a matter of French privilege — the right to drink while on duty. After all, if the French cannot have a glass of wine while fighting terror, the terrorists have won.

The government is moving to bar the booze after pictures were published showing riot police drinking bottles of beer and wine during Paris street protests. The officers are wearing body armor and carrying weapons.

Didier Mangione, national secretary of the police union, is honestly incensed and proclaimed that the government is “trying to turn us into priests, but without the altar wine.”

As a wine lover who adores France, I stand with my brothers in arms and ask that all stand for the playing of La Marseillaise (perhaps the best national anthem in the world) as seen in a bar in Casablanca:

Fight on, my French brothers and sisters. Even though we are planning to go to Paris this summer and will likely face your strike, we will gladly meet you in the streets and drink to your struggle. I say Liberté, égalité, beuverie! (by the way, beuverie means a drinking bout).

Source; Telegraph

Jonathan Turley