PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) - The French government sought on Wednesday to allay rising discontent within the police force over the incarceration of an officer that prompted a 'go slow' by colleagues and disrupted the courts in the country's second biggest city.
The Marseille-based officer held in detention is accused of "voluntary violence" during the wave of rioting that swept through France earlier this month that left a 21-year-old badly hurt.
In a weekend newspaper interview, the national police chief Frederic Veaux said "a police officer does not belong in prison, even if he did wrong or committed serious errors at work." His remarks were widely perceived as a challenge to the independence of the judiciary.
They have left President Emmanuel Macron's government treading a fine line between convincing the public and judiciary that the police are not above the law, while not alienating the law enforcement agencies it depends on for order ahead of next year's Olympic Games in Paris.
"Everyone needs to be confident that the state is there for our security forces, and that the security forces are there for the French people at each time we need them," government spokesperson Olivier Veran told a press conference.
The Alliance and UNSA police unions called the decision to keep the Marseille officer in custody while awaiting trial "incomprehensible".
In protest against their colleague's detention, scores of officers in the Bouches-du-Rhone administrative department where Marseille is located have gone on sick leave or are responding only to emergency calls.
"This decision is excessive. They may have done wrong and will be pursued in court, but we are not crooks, we are not the mafia. We are police officers," Yann Bastiere of police union Unite-SGP, which has called on its members to work the minimum service, told Reuters.
The Union of Magistrates said judges in Marseille had observed a sharp fall in the number of individuals being taken into custody and said it had proved hard to find police to escort suspects to hearings.
"This police movement is draining the justice system," said Thibaut Spriet, national secretary of the union, told Reuters.
Veaux's interview was an attempt to pressure judges, Spriet continued, adding that what he called the government's weak response underlined its fear of upsetting the police.
"Who is leading the police? Is it the unions? Is it the president?" Spriet said.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said he supported Veaux's sentiment and told Radio Classique: "The police are not above the law, but neither should they be below it."
Macron, who is on a trip to the Pacific islands, said "no-one in the Republic is above the law," but refused to comment directly on Veaux's remarks.
The Aix-en-Provence Appeals Court will examine the police officer's appeal contesting his detention on August 3.
Reporting by Layli Foroudi; additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Editing by William Maclean