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Paris – In France, protests against police violence broke out.
In Paris, groups of protesters on Saturday built barricades and hit police with stones and fireworks. Two cars, a motorcycle and building materials caught fire. Police used stun grenades and tear gas.
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. According to the police, there have been nine arrests in prime time.
Cars on fire on Saturday afternoon in ParisPhoto: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP
In Paris alone, according to the Interior Ministry, some 46,000 people took part in a protest march from Republic Square to Bastille Square in the city center.
Several thousand people took to the streets in other cities such as Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Rennes, Lille, Nantes and Montpellier.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin condemned the riots. Attacks on police officers at demonstrations in Paris and other cities were “unacceptable,” Darmanin wrote Saturday night on the online Twitter service. 37 officers were injured, 23 of them in Paris.
Firefighters try to put out the burning carsPhoto: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP
The trigger was a video released earlier this week that showed a black man being beaten for minutes by three police officers on November 21.
Violent demonstrators marched through Paris early Saturday eveningPhoto: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP
The incident also brought to the fore a bill to ban the distribution of photos of police officers in certain situations.
This is seen as an interference with the freedom of the press. Protesters held signs reading “Who will protect us from the police?” Or “Stop the police violence”.
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 eviction of tents by migrants, Thursday about 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.
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