Elite French police 'so tired they are accidentally shooting themselves'

Officers from the elite close protection unit have clocked up 1.3 million hours in unpaid overtime

Officers from France's close protection unit are claiming fatigue due to overwork since the Charlie Hebdo massacre ((Photo credit should read JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD/AFP/Getty Images))

Elite French police responsible for protecting VIP terrorist tagrets are reportedly so tired they have been shooting themselves by mistake.

One officer from the close-protection unit accidentally shot himself in the thigh and another discharged his weapon inside the Elysée Palace, according to a report by The Times.

And members of the unit said they would sue the French government on the grounds that overwork was causing the accidents.

Police unions said the accidents had come from increased working hours since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, with increased security measures pushing police resources to breaking point.

The unit of around 700 elite officers claims its members have accumulated 1.3 million hours of overtime since the shootings, for which they have not been paid.

And Maître Laurent-Franck Liénard, a lawyer for the officers, said the unit was a “bomb waiting to explode”.

One officer told The Times: “We have new missions because lots of other people are threatened at the moment. We do days of 10, 15 even 18 hours. During this time we have [to] stand up all the time and we have to be on our guard. We almost don’t have any time to rest. I’ve been asked to work 20 or 25 days without a break.”

And he said more mistakes were inevitable, “when you are worn-out, when you are extremely stressed, when you have to be extremely vigilant and when you drive [fast] and when you are armed. And the truth is that there have been several inadvertent shots fired which are linked to fatigue.”

The close protection unit is responsible for protecting President Hollande and his minsters as well as other high-profile targets from religious leaders to TV stars and journalists.

The two incidents of mistaken firing were reportedly due to officers forgetting to set their safety catches. The incident in the Elysée Palace briefly set off a terrorism alert.