Violence Erupts In New Paris Protests As Thousands March Against Security Bill
Violence erupted in Paris for the second consecutive weekend at a mass protest against a new security law and police brutality, as demonstrators clashed with police, set alight vehicles and smashed shop windows.
A largely peaceful march against the contested global security law and police violence in Paris degenerated after vandals disrupted the demonstration. Clusters of hooded youths set fire to vehicles, smashed shop windows and hurled stones and molotov cocktails at police, who responded with water cannons and teargas.
About 90 demonstrations were organised across the rest of?France, most of which passed off without major incidents.?
France on the edge
France is facing a number of explosive factors ¨C a bitterly contested law, a debate over police violence, fears of terrorism after the?beheading of a school teacher?and the ongoing Covid-19 crisis ¨C combining to provide what one commentator called ¡°the wood, the petrol and the matches¡± to set the country alight.??
The weekly nationwide protests are also becoming a major crisis for President Emmanuel Macron¡¯s government, with tensions intensified by the beating of a Black music producer by police last month.??
About the security law
The ¡°liberty marches¡± ¨C combined with the annual union day of protests against ¡°unemployment and precariousness¡± held on the first Saturday in December ¨C reflected ongoing fierce opposition to article 24 of the new security law.
?The article makes it punishable to publish photographs or videos identifying police or gendarmes with ¡°intent¡± to cause psychological or physical harm, and is seen as a direct attack on press freedom.
The government has promised to completely rewrite article 24, but a report by United Nations experts last week expressed concern about other parts of the legislation that has already been passed by MPs in the Assembl¨¦e Nationale, describing it as ¡°incompatible¡± with international law and human rights. The report expressed particular concern about giving police powers to monitor crowds with drones and facial recognition.
The bill was part of Macron¡¯s drive to get tougher on law and order ahead of elections in 2022. His government also said the police needed to be better protected from online hate.?But the draft legislation provoked a public backlash.
