Thousands of people protested in Paris and dozens of other French cities on Saturday against a controversial bill on global security. Under it, there would be a threat of imprisonment for those who published photos of police officers with the intention of harming them. According to critics, the regulation would violate freedom of the press and citizens’ right to information.
French police used tear gas on Saturday afternoon to protest several thousand people in Paris after masked protesters threw firecrackers and stones at police cordons and began building barricades.
However, according to the French media, most of the protesters acted peacefully. During the skirmishes, however, two cars and construction equipment caught fire. According to the French media, the skirmishes are part of a section of protesters known as the “black bloc” of anti-fascist activists.
The march in Paris began early in the afternoon, with meetings already taking place in the morning in Rennes, Lille or Montpellier, where several thousand people had gathered. According to the police prefecture, about 6,000 people arrived at a demonstration in Bordeaux, where protesters chanted slogans such as “Your weapons, our cameras”, “Let us film, let us breathe” or “Welcome to the planet of silence”.
You’re just pouring oil on the fire, says Faure
Disagreement with the prepared norm came among protesters to express the secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure. Interior Minister “Gérald Darmanin is just pouring oil on the fire; he put the French against him,” Faure said in an interview with BFMTV. Neither Minister Darmanin nor President Emmanuel Macron have yet commented on the protests.
The French government claims that a law that violates imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of 45,000 euros (1.2 million CZK) wants to protect members of the police, who face threats, especially in the online environment. Opponents, however, fear that the measure could affect journalists and others who film or photograph police officers at work.
Public reactions have escalated after two incidents this week. On Monday, police evacuated a migrant camp in central Paris, with some French media calling the on-site police action brutal.
On Thursday evening, footage of three police officers physically assaulting and committing racist insults to a black music producer was released to the public, while in an official record, police officers described the clash very differently. In both cases, video recordings played a major role. President Emmanuel Macron called the police attack a disgrace for France.
His predecessor, François Hollande, called for the disputed article to be removed from the law. “If the text hurts conscience and divides society, if it threatens to provoke violence, it must be withdrawn,” the ex-president said on Twitter, stressing that the police must follow the law and unacceptable behavior must be punished as severely as possible.
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