Department for Protection and Security

Department for Protection and Security (DPS) or Département Protection et Sécurité is the "security" branch of the National Front (FN) political party of France, which depends directly from the FN's president and is now led by Eric Staelens. It is currently headed by Eric Staelens and contains 1500 men.

The mission of the DPS is providing physical protection of the leaders of the National Front 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 1998, a Parliamentary Commission, led by Socialist MP Bernard Grasset (Green MP Noël Mamère and conservative MP Patrick Devedjian were also part of it [1]), was created to investigate its acts, after several violent incidents during demonstrations and other occasions. The report was published on June 3, 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 October 25, 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 FN, the DPS itself also split into two organizations, the DPS on one side and the DPA (Département Protection Assistance) on the other side.

...
Wikipedia