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Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to denounce police violence and the security policy plans of French President Emmanuel Macron that protesters say will undermine civil liberties.
The police fired tear gas in response to the protesters’ fireworks. Young men covering their heads smashed a shop window.
French President Emmanuel Macron has refrained from supporting the controversial “comprehensive security” bill. Then it unleashed a violent reaction among the public and the political left.
He said that it would be reformulated in reference to article 24 of the bill. The article stipulates a prison sentence of one year and a fine of 45,000 euros in case images of police officers and gendarmes are disseminated in bad faith.
Violent clashes broke out between protesters and the police in a similar protest last week.
Protesters marched around the French capital under the strict surveillance of riot police, waving banners reading “France, the land of police rights” and “Withdraw security law.”
“We are moving towards increasingly severe restriction of freedoms. There is no justification,” said Paris-based Karen Chabeau.
Another protester, Jezavier Molona, said: “France generally restricts freedoms while preserving their importance to others.”
The beating of music producer Michael Zekler, a black man, by several police officers in late November fueled public anger. This incident became known after video clips of it were distributed on the Internet.
Critics had said the original bill would make it difficult to hold police accountable in a country where various human rights groups claim systemic racism within law enforcement agencies. Many opponents of the bill say it will remain unfair even after it is rewritten.
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