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The city of Paris was the subject of riots between protesters who protested police violence and a controversial bill called “Global Security.” This Saturday, activists upside down threw stones and firecrackers at police barriers, set furniture and cars on fire and clashed with officers as they tried to block access to some streets. The authorities fired tear gas at some of the protesters.
Thousands of people took to the streets, most in an orderly fashion, to protest an internal security bill that prohibits journalists from reporting on police brutality. Opponents say the project aims to undermine press freedom. In other cities such as Lille, Rennes, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Nantes and Bordeaux, thousands of French people also protested the bill, which would criminalize the publication of police images in certain circumstances.
Around 133 thousand people have protested throughout the country (46 thousand in Paris), according to the Interior Ministry, and according to the organizers there were more than 500 thousand nationwide (200 thousand of them in the French capital).
The protest was promoted by trade unions, press associations, human rights organizations and even by the “yellow vests” movement, in a joint note that warned that, if the law is followed, France runs the risk of joining the list of countries that violate freedom of the press. “The people of liberty marched through France to tell the government that they do not want their global security law, that they reject widespread surveillance and drones, that they want to be able to film and publicize the interventions of the security forces,” he added. StopLoiSecurityGlobale, cited by “Le Monde”.
According to “The Guardian”, Jean Castex, the French prime minister, has already announced an independent commission to evaluate and possibly rewrite the controversial article 24 of the bill, approved this week in first reading by the National Assembly before going to the Senate , in January – which sanctions, with up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros, anyone who reveals images of security agents with the intention of causing damage.
Protesters also pointed fingers at authorities after video was seen showing police officers beating a black music producer for not wearing a mask. The footage, showing Michel Zecler being kicked and beaten in his Paris studio, shocked the country. And they have already led President Emmanuel Macron to call the incident “unacceptable” and “shameful”.
At the end of the demonstration, the organization deplored the scenes of violence against the police in the Place de la Bastille. “We cannot accept that a handful of people forcibly impose their protest strategy on hundreds of thousands of other peaceful protesters,” the organizers wrote in a statement. A freelance photographer was wounded in the face during a police charge, as were several protesters.
