Maurice Grimaud (11 November 1913 – 16 July 2009) was the French Prefect of Police, or

police chief The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...

, of the city of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

during the May 1968 general strikes and student uprisings. He is credited with avoiding an escalation of violence and bloodshed during May 1968 unrest. Grimaud was born in Annonay, Ardèche, on 11 November 1913. He originally studied

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. Grimaud began his career in civil service with the French colonial administration of

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

in Rabat. He later worked in both

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and

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. Grimaud also worked as a local governor and aide to then-

French Interior Minister Minister of the Interior (french: Ministre de l'Intérieur; ) is a prominent position in the Government of France. The position is equivalent to the interior minister in other countries, like the Home Secretary in the United Kingdom, the Minis ...

François Mitterrand.

Prefect of Police

He succeeded

Maurice Papon Maurice Papon (; 3 September 1910 – 17 February 2007) was a French civil servant who led the police in major prefectures from the 1930s to the 1960s, before he became a Gaullist politician. When he was secretary general for the police in Bo ...

as Prefect of Police, meaning the head of the Paris

police force The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

, in 1967. Grimaud would continue to serve as police chief until 1971, when he was succeeded by Jacques Lenoir. Starting in May 1968, mass social events occurred in France, involving students and workers. Protests initially began at the University of Nanterre, located west of Paris, when students demanded that men and women be allowed to visit each other's dormrooms. The students' demands soon expanded, basically challenging the whole of

Gaullist Gaullism (french: link=no, Gaullisme) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic. De Gaulle with ...

society. The protests quickly escalated nationwide, as French

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s went on strike in solidarity with the students, prompting 10 million union workers to call a general strike. Student protesters seized and occupied buildings on Paris's

Left Bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terra ...

and

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sor ...

. Grimaud was credited with starting a dialogue with the student protesters and promoting police restraint in the face of the protests. Maurice Grimaud died on 16 July 2009 in Paris at the age of 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grimaud, Maurice 1913 births 2009 deaths People from Annonay Frontist Party politicians May 1968 events in France French police chiefs