French authorities see the police as protectors who ensure that citizens can peacefully protest President Emmanuel Macron’s contentious retirement age increase.
FILE - Police officers scuffle with protesters during a demonstration in Lyon, central France, on March 23, 2023. French authorities see the police as protectors ensuring that citizens can peacefully protest President Emmanuel Macrons contentious retirement age increase. But to human rights advocates and demonstrators who were clubbed or tear-gassed, officers have overstepped their mission.
The protests, which began in January, gained momentum after Macron’s decision last month to push a bill to raise the retirement age through the lower house of parliament without a vote. The common French reference to law enforcement officers as “forces of order” has been turned on its head. Now the question is whether police represent force or order.
French police are sent into demonstrations with weapons that are prohibited in most European countries, including stun grenades and rubber bullets, according to Sebastian Roche, an expert on security forces with France's National Center for Scientific Research. “I spent hours in a cell for four people with nine other protesters. I slept on the floor,” he told The Associated Press. Cardoso denied any wrongdoing and was released without charges.“If the government doesn’t listen to us, the violence will rise. Our worst fear is that someone will die while protesting,” the young man said.
Black blocs are not a new phenomenon, but they represent a danger to police. In one dramatic video posted on social networks, an officer is seen crashing to the ground after being hit with a paving stone. Colleagues dragged him away. “Of course, the police response is proportionate,” Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez insisted in a television interview. Police intervene only when black blocs move into action, he said.
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