Fires blaze in Paris streets during protests over new police law

VIDEO https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2020-11-29/Fires-blaze-in-Paris-streets-during-protests-over-new-police-law-VNpEwFrbAA/index.html

Security forces have fired tear gas and stun grenades at Paris protesters marching against police violence and a draft law to protect officers' identity – after demonstrators erected barricades and threw fireworks and stones.

Across France, thousands of people took part in demonstrations after images of police beating a black music producer fanned anger about a new law that is seen as curbing the right of journalists to report on police abuse.

In Paris protesters started fires and clashed with police who tried to block access to certain streets.

In Lille, Rennes, Strasbourg and other cities, thousands more protested against the draft bill that makes it a crime to circulate images of police officers in certain circumstances, which opponents say limits press freedom.

In the western city of Nantes, police said around 3,500 rallied, while organizers put the crowd at up to 7,000.

City officials in southern Montpellier said 3,800 people were demonstrating on Saturday, more than double the number who attended a march a week ago, while organizers said there were 5,000 people.

"I'm just waiting for the law to be withdrawn," said Adele Lequertier, a 22-year-old sociology student, who took part in the Montpellier march.


Police fired tear gas as fireworks were launched at them during protests in Paris. /Alain Jocard/AFP

President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that images of the beating of music producer Michel Zecler in Paris last weekend "shame us."

"Police everywhere, justice nowhere" and "police state" were among the slogans brandished by protesters in Place de la Republique in Paris.

An investigation has been opened against the four police involved in the alleged racial attack as critics say that the images would never had been made public if the contentious Article 24 of the security legislation was made law.


Protests come after images have emerged of police beating a black music producer. /Alain Jocard/AFP

The article would criminalize the publication of images of on-duty police officers with the intent of harming their "physical or psychological integrity." It was passed by the National Assembly, although it is awaiting Senate approval.

Under the article, offenders could be fined $53,000 and sentenced to up to a year in jail for sharing images of police officers.

The controversy over the law and police violence is developing into another crisis for the government as Macron confronts the pandemic and its economic fallout.



Thousands of people have been protesting around France over the new law, which is claimed to reduce press freedom. /Thomas Coex/AFP

The images of the beating of Zecler emerged days after the police were already being criticized over the forcible removal of a migrant camp in central Paris.

A series of high-profile cases against police officers regarding the mistreatment of black or Arab citizens has raised accusations of institutionalized racism. The force has insisted violations are the fault of isolated individuals.

In a letter seen by the AFP news agency, Paris police chief Didier Lallement wrote to officers to tell them: "In the coming days, the coming weeks... there's no doubt you will face difficulty, doubt, even anger and fear." But he insisted that he could "count on the integrity, sense of honor and ethics" in the force.


Source(s): AFP ,Reuters