[ad_1]
As Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin fights for a bill to protect police from public exposure, police raided a migrant camp on Place de la République in central Paris on Tuesday night.
It was so hard, with tear gas and physical attacks on migrants and journalists, that it also impressed the Minister.
On Tuesday night, there are huge protests in Paris as a result of the incident. Watch live photos of the venue on Dagbladet TV.
“Disproportionate” and “brutal”
“Shocking,” Darmanin said, according to various media reports.
It has now ordered an investigation into the incident, according to The Guardian under the auspices of the internal disciplinary body of the police.
Among the many others who have reacted strongly to the action is the Socialist Party Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who in a letter to Darmanin called the action “disproportionate” and “brutal.”
Following the particularly brutal and shocking police interventions against refugees in Paris last night, I wrote to the Minister of the Interior this morning to convey my strongest condemnation. pic.twitter.com/YtWgGZG8UX
– Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) November 24, 2020
“A denial of France’s humanitarian commitment,” Hidalgo wrote in the letter, which was posted on Twitter.
Several other politicians have been highly critical of the action against a camp which, according to NTB, consisted of some 500 tents and was set up in protest against the earlier withdrawal by authorities from the camps set up by refugees.
DIFFICULT: Things went wrong when French police removed an immigrant camp set up on the Place de la Republique in central Paris on Tuesday night. Photo: Alexandra Henry / Utopia56 via AP / NTB Scanpix
see more
Forced relocation
NTB writes that the police rushed to the scene and began to remove the tents, several of them while people were inside them.
“They are too brutal, we just want a roof over our heads,” said Shahbuddin, a 34-year-old Afghan who was forcibly displaced, according to the news agency.
Third hour of the afternoon by the same policeman. Grabbed by the throat the first time, violently thrown there the second time … and that … is so hard tonight … https://t.co/CEvdFznx4B
– Remy Buisine (@RemyBuisine) November 23, 2020
Reporter Rémy Buisine from the news website Brut writes on Twitter that he was attacked three times by the same policeman.
Controversial police law
The police action is incredible for the French government.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has previously branded himself an ardent defender of the police.
Now he is working to gain a foothold in the French National Assembly for a new law that will make it difficult to publish photos of police officers.
According to The Guardian, the law is considered by many to be a threat to press freedom and has been criticized by both the UN Human Rights Council and the French state’s own civil rights defender, Claire Hédon.
[ad_2]
