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Concept
Department for Protection and Security
Summary
Department for Protection and Security (DPS) or Département Protection et Sécurité is the security branch of the National Rally (RN) political party of France (formerly the "National Front"), which depends directly from the RN's president and is led by Eric Staelens . , it consists of 1,500 members.
The mission of the DPS is providing physical protection of the leaders of National Rally and the monitoring of events or meetings of the party. One feature of DPS compared to other political parties' security services is its quasi-military character, both in the origin of many of its members (former military, police or security guards) and in its equipment consisting of helmets and uniforms similar to those worn by the mobile brigades of law enforcement. There is a fairly strong tradition of red berets (Paratroops) and Green Berets (Foreign Legion). In 2022, the DPS changed their military style to a more formal one with suits, but still maintaining their mission of protecting party leaders, especially Le Pen.
In 1998, a Parliamentary Commission, led by Socialist MP Bernard Grasset (Green MP Noël Mamère and conservative MP Patrick Devedjian were also part of it), was created to investigate its acts, after several violent incidents during demonstrations and other occasions. The report was published on 3 June 1999, and pinpointed several cases of DPS member checking identity card of demonstrators instead of the police. It also pinpointed links with the Groupe Union Défense (GUD), former OAS members, mercenaries and private military contractors. The Parliamentary commission declared that the DPS should have been dissolved end of 1996, after the Montceau-les-Mines affair on 25 October 1996, when a DPS unit acted like an ordinary police order force, alike to the C.R.S. anti-riot units. After the creation of the Mouvement National Républicain (MNR) by Bruno Mégret, an offshoot from the RN, the DPS itself also split into two organizations, the DPS on one side and the DPA (Département Protection Assistance) on the other side.
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