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French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered an investigation into police violence in Paris during the dispersal of several hundred immigrants and their supporters. Law enforcement agencies used tear gas and even beat journalists at the scene, The Guardian reports.
After the dismantling of a newly installed camp on the Place de la République in Paris, between 200 and 300 people, mostly members of associations and a minority of immigrants, went to the center of the French capital to ask for accommodation, surrounded by a imposing law enforcement device, according to Agerpres.
After a few minutes, law enforcement agencies used tear gas and stun grenades several times to disperse the protesters.
The images captured during the police intervention were classified as “shocking” by Minister Gerald Darmanin.
The Interior Minister has asked the special section of the French police, which investigates police abuses, to investigate several “unacceptable” incidents of this type. The minister promised to make the results of the investigation public within 48 hours.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, accused the “violence” shown by the police and said that the abolition of the camp is a “denial of the humanitarian role that France has assumed.”
“The state puts on a pitiful sight. There is a police response to a social situation. This will not be overcome unless accommodation solutions are found for these people, “said Ian Brossat, director of the Paris City Council for the reception of refugees.
Hundreds of migrants, mostly Afghan men, have been left homeless after the dismantling of an unsanitary camp in a Parisian suburb last week. The migrants asked to be provided with accommodation, in full quarantine established by the French authorities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You have seen this violence by the police, since officials, journalists, cameras are present in the heart of Paris. So imagine what isolated migrants go through on the outskirts of Paris,” said Kerill Theurillat, Parisian leader of the Utopia association56 , who was at the origin of the installation in the Plaza de la República.
Remy Buisine, a reporter for the Brut news site, said he was attacked and beaten three times by police, even though he always showed them his identification.
The police action comes at a delicate moment for the French government, which has been widely criticized for trying to pass a new law that prohibits the filming of practicing police officers.
According to the provisions of the draft law, the publication of images that show police officers in the exercise of their functions is punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
“Those in power increasingly try to prevent citizens, journalists and whistleblowers from denouncing the mistakes of the state. When that happens, democracy disappears,” said Edwy Plenel, editor-in-chief of investigative portal Mediapart.
Editor: Mihnea Lazăr
