France, Jan. 30 -- A record 10,000 gendarmes were injured last year while carrying out their duties across France - up 4 percent from 2023 - one of the country's top police chiefs said on Thursday.

"It is unprecedented. It shows you the level of engagement of the officers and the amount of violence in society,"Hubert Bonneau, head of the National Gendarmerie, told television stationBFM.

"There is no such thing as a harmless patrol. You never know who you're going to run into during an operation."

Of the 10,000 injuries recorded in 2024, 5,300 occurred while gendarmes were on duty. The rest happened while travelling to work or during training exercises.

Official data shows that between 35 and 50 percent of all injuries took place in Fr...