French government agrees police deal

PARIS, France -- The French government has agreed to the demands of its police officers for improved pay and working conditions after an unprecedented protest.

After a crisis meeting with a delegation of 216 gendarmes determined to leave with an agreement, Defence Minister Alain Richard on Saturday presented a deal to give the force increased pay, more equipment and more recruits.

"This agreement is the government's recognition of the sacrifices accepted by the national gendarmerie for the security of the French people and the state," Richard told Reuters.

The gendarmes, a military corps organised by Napoleon 200 years ago, had complained that a shortage of resources and manpower made their jobs more dangerous and compromised their ability to ensure law and order.

The corps defied a ban on demonstrations by the unit and staged protests across last week.

The protests culminated in Paris on Friday in a peaceful face off with CRS riot police, who blocked the gendarmes' plan to take their protest to the capital's famed Champs Elysees. The CRS answer to the Interior Ministry.

With rising crime statistics a major public concern ahead of both the presidential and parliamentary elections due within weeks of each other next year, both the gendarmes and civilian police with similar grievances have wide public sympathy.

Under the deal presented by Richard, the 100,000 gendarmes will get an average of over 1,000 francs ($135.6) more pay a month, the recruitment of 4,500 extra non-commissioned officers, and 50,000 bullet-proof vests by mid-2002.

"I think the announcements made by the minister will give serenity and a sense of calm to all gendarmerie personnel," a spokesman for the gendarmes said on television.

Saturday's agreement came after the government last month agreed to increase next year's security budget by 400 million francs to soothe civilian police force concerns over pay and rising violent crime.