France: protests and violence in the streets of Paris

More than 100,000 people took to the streets in France to protest against a controversial law protecting the police. As reported by the French news agency AFP, citing the Ministry of the Interior, 133,000 people demonstrated nationwide. In Paris alone there were 46,000.

According to French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, a total of 37 police officers and gendarmes were injured during the protests. On Twitter, he condemned the violence as unacceptable.

Paris police said 46 people were arrested and 23 police officers injured. Police used tear gas on protesters who erected barricades and threw stones at police officers. In Bastille Square, demonstrators set fire to a newspaper kiosk, the entrance to a French central bank building and a nearby brasserie. Several cars were also burning in the area. Several demonstrators were arrested. There were also clashes in the Breton city of Rennes.

Up to one year of imprisonment or a fine of 45,000 euros

According to the government, the security law should better protect the police and limit video recordings of police operations. An article of the law provides that posting images of security officers on duty is a criminal offense if this is done with the aim of harming the physical or mental integrity of police officers. The consequence could be a prison sentence of one year or a fine of 45,000 euros.

Only this week two brutal police operations had become known through the videos: Monday of an aggressive evacuation of tents by migrants, Thursday of an attack on a black music producer. Many also see freedom of the press at risk due to the planned law. After the House passed the bill on Tuesday, the Senate must now deal with the controversial bill.

According to the organizers, many more people took part in the nationwide demonstrations against police violence and freedom of the press than confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior. You talk about 500,000 attendees. In the capital Paris alone, 200,000 protesters took to the streets, said an alliance of journalist unions and human rights organizations that had called for the “March of liberties”.

The organizing alliance distanced itself from violent participants in the protests and condemned the attacks on police officers. It is unacceptable that “a handful of people” disturb the peaceful demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators.