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Police clashed with protesters in Paris when protests for a new French security law turned violent.
Thousands of people took to the streets of the French capital and other major cities on Saturday to protest against the legislation proposed by President Emmanuel Macron, which they claim would restrict civil liberties and increase surveillance.
Protesters were also marching against police brutality, but officers were forced to fire tear gas as a small number of them burned cars, smashed shop windows and set fire to barricades.
Part of Macron’s bill, which would have banned the filming of police officers, had to be rewritten earlier this week after it sparked a huge backlash.
Thousands took to the streets to protest against the ‘global security bill’ on Saturday
Police officers fired tear gas at protesters
Today in Paris, the protesters carried signs that read “Police everywhere, justice nowhere” and “France, land of police rights.”
Macron has tried to offer police officers greater protection against hate in line with his new bill, but angered unions on Friday when he said those who used gratuitous violence and displayed racist attitudes should be punished.
A protester throws firewood at a barricade during demonstrations in Paris
Police misconduct has received new attention in France recently after video footage surfaced of officers beating a black man named Michel zecler when he was arrested in Paris.
Macron was already facing massive criticism for his hardline stance on France’s secular laws after the beheading of a school teacher who showed the students a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
The fire lit the streets as the cars caught fire
The French president defended France’s ‘secular’ laws sanctioning blasphemy after Samuel Paty, 47, was assassinated at Conflans Sainte-Honorine in October.
Macron said that Paty was killed because he “taught freedom of expression, to believe and not to believe,” sparking outrage in Islamic countries around the world.
