MARIGOT--Gendarmerie Commandant Sébastien Manzoni insisted on Tuesday that no Gendarmes serving in St. Martin, St. Barths, Guadeloupe or France, or for that matter former Gendarmes, were involved in the Sunset Beach Bar brawl Monday night.
He corroborated this by adding that the photos and names of the suspects currently held in detention, provided by the Dutch-side police, did not show up in the Gendarmerie’s national database.
“We received a call from the Dutch-side police around 10:00pm asking us to verify if the suspects they had detained were ‘Gendarmes or marines’ and it is very easy for me to check that from the database,” said Manzoni. “Nothing came up. They were not Gendarmes. They may well have identified themselves as Gendarmes, but it was a bit vague. The police said they could also be French Marines, but they do not exist by that name.
“I cannot confirm if they identified themselves as Gendarmes or what was said. I was not there. That is for the Dutch-side police to say, as it happened on the Dutch side.”
He dismissed the implication of Gendarmes being involved in the incident as “drunken French tourists” getting out of hand. “We know that they are not Gendarmes or former Gendarmes. These were young men. One had done some military service. I believe they were just joking,” he said.
He said the term “military police” also does not exist in France. “You have the French army and the Gendarmerie. In fact, we belong to the army, because we are soldiers.”
Manzoni also categorically denied that Gendarmerie patrols had crossed the border to provide “backup”, adding that he had no knowledge of a “standoff.”
“There was no emergency call for backup and we would have had to ask permission from our Dutch-side colleagues. I am in contact with Deputy Police Chief Denise Jacobs every week,” he said.
Asked whether the Gendarmerie would take action against persons wilfully posing as Gendarmes, if it were proven, Manzoni said: “I doubt the Justice system would pursue it, especially in a foreign country.”
The Préfecture issued a brief communiqué Tuesday confirming that no Gendarmes had been involved in the incident.
