PARIS – Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in France yesterday for a third consecutive weekend of demonstrations over a controversial security bill to limit the filming of police.
Authorities have been bracing for further possible violence after the last two such protests here ended in rioting.
But, there were no major flare-ups as several thousand protesters – the organisers claimed a turnout of 10,000 – flanked on all sides by riot police marched through the city here.
The demonstrations attracted around 60,000 people from across the country, said the organisers, while the Interior Ministry put that number at over 26,000.
“Global repression, total regression,” read a placard held aloft by one demonstrator, a reference to the new “global security” bill that bans the “malevolent” publication of images showing the faces of police officers in action.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted that “several hundred thugs had come to commit violence” in the capital.
“The robust strategy against the thugs – 142 arrests, and containment of the march – made it possible to prevent them from doing so and to protect shop owners.”
Demonstrations were also held in Lyon, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Lille, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille.
Critics have argued that the security bill, which has been adopted by the lower house of Parliament, will make it harder for journalists and citizens to document cases of police brutality.
Footage of white officers beating up an unarmed black music producer in his studio here on November 21 amplified anger over the legislation, widely seen as signalling a lurch to the right by President Emmanuel Macron.
Other incidents caught on camera have shown police here using violence to tear down a migrant camp.
In the face of mounting protests, Macron’s ruling LREM party announced that it will rewrite the bill’s controversial Article 24, dealing with filming police.
But, the announcement fell short of the mark for rights groups and left-wing protesters, who are demanding that the law be completely withdrawn.
In scenes reminiscent of the “yellow vest” anti-government protests of late 2018 and early 2019, shop windows were smashed and vehicles set alight here last week, as small groups of demonstrators clashed with police.
Yesterday, cops arrested several anarchist “black bloc” demonstrators in the middle of the crowd in the capital.
The recurring allegations of racism and brutality against police have become a major headache for Macron.
In a letter to a police union leader on Monday, he announced plans for a summit next month on how to improve relations between the force and communities.
“There is (an) urgent need to act,” he said in the letter to the Unite-SGP-FO union, adding that the summit will also address police’s long-standing complaints on working conditions. – AFP, December 13, 2020
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