Thousands Take to Streets Again in Paris
Protesters: France Becoming a Police State
PARIS (Dispatches) -- Thousands protested in Paris on Saturday to denounce police violence and President Emmanuel Macron’s security policy plans which the demonstrators say would crimp civil liberties.
Police fired tear gas and charged after fireworks were launched at their lines. There were violent clashes between protesters and police in a similar protest last week.
In a U-turn earlier this week, Macron’s ruling party said it would rewrite part of a draft security bill that would curb rights to circulate images of police officers after it provoked a strong backlash among the public and the political left.
The protesters marched through the French capital under the close watch of riot police, waving banners that read "France, land of police rights” and "Withdrawal of the security law”.
"We’re heading towards an increasingly significant limitation of freedoms. There is no justification,” said Paris resident Karine Shebabo. Another protester, Xavier Molenat, said: "France has this habit of curbing freedoms while preaching their importance to others.”
The beating of a Black man, music producer Michel Zecler, by several police officers in late November intensified public anger. That incident came to light after closed circuit television and mobile phone footage circulated online.
The shocking footage drew widespread criticism from French public, politicians, celebrities and media outlets, renewing a debate over Macron’s draft law.
Critics had said the original bill would make it harder to hold the police to account in a country where some rights groups allege systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies. Many opponents of the draft law say it goes too far even as rewritten.
Along with the most recent turmoil in the streets, France has frequently experienced mass mobilization after public disaffection with French public policy, and many often turn violent.
The gilets jaunes, or yellow vest movement, first emerged in 2018 after Macron announced an environmental tax on fuel. Initially peaceful protests quickly turned violent with widespread looting and vandalism throughout Paris.
Brutal scenes of police firing tear gas and beating protesters across France once again highlighted repressive police tactics and systemic racism, some of the many themes associated with a tumultuous 2020.
The backdrop of France’s security bill comes in light of this summer’s worldwide Black Lives Matter protests that were sparked after George Floyd, a Black man, died while in Minneapolis police custody in broad daylight on May 25.
Floyd’s death and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests brought identity politics and France’s long history of colonialism and racial inequality into the public consciousness. The main instances of excessive use of police force captured on film in recent times, like the beating of Black music producer Michel Zecler, were leveled against people of color.
France’s African and Arab minorities have felt betrayed and marginalized by a system that reinforces institutional racism throughout not only policing and security but state-society relations.
French law since 1978 does not
Police fired tear gas and charged after fireworks were launched at their lines. There were violent clashes between protesters and police in a similar protest last week.
In a U-turn earlier this week, Macron’s ruling party said it would rewrite part of a draft security bill that would curb rights to circulate images of police officers after it provoked a strong backlash among the public and the political left.
The protesters marched through the French capital under the close watch of riot police, waving banners that read "France, land of police rights” and "Withdrawal of the security law”.
"We’re heading towards an increasingly significant limitation of freedoms. There is no justification,” said Paris resident Karine Shebabo. Another protester, Xavier Molenat, said: "France has this habit of curbing freedoms while preaching their importance to others.”
The beating of a Black man, music producer Michel Zecler, by several police officers in late November intensified public anger. That incident came to light after closed circuit television and mobile phone footage circulated online.
The shocking footage drew widespread criticism from French public, politicians, celebrities and media outlets, renewing a debate over Macron’s draft law.
Critics had said the original bill would make it harder to hold the police to account in a country where some rights groups allege systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies. Many opponents of the draft law say it goes too far even as rewritten.
Along with the most recent turmoil in the streets, France has frequently experienced mass mobilization after public disaffection with French public policy, and many often turn violent.
The gilets jaunes, or yellow vest movement, first emerged in 2018 after Macron announced an environmental tax on fuel. Initially peaceful protests quickly turned violent with widespread looting and vandalism throughout Paris.
Brutal scenes of police firing tear gas and beating protesters across France once again highlighted repressive police tactics and systemic racism, some of the many themes associated with a tumultuous 2020.
The backdrop of France’s security bill comes in light of this summer’s worldwide Black Lives Matter protests that were sparked after George Floyd, a Black man, died while in Minneapolis police custody in broad daylight on May 25.
Floyd’s death and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests brought identity politics and France’s long history of colonialism and racial inequality into the public consciousness. The main instances of excessive use of police force captured on film in recent times, like the beating of Black music producer Michel Zecler, were leveled against people of color.
France’s African and Arab minorities have felt betrayed and marginalized by a system that reinforces institutional racism throughout not only policing and security but state-society relations.
French law since 1978 does not
recognize race, ethnicity, or religion, but rather citizen or immigrant, a "colorblind” approach that effectively ignores identity.
French public policy focuses on French national identity as a means to integrate its minority populations and this approach creates an environment of systemic discrimination because there are no reliable indicators of social, economic or political inequalities.
In France, identifying as anything other than French is considered to be a threat to collective French identity.
Outside, in the suburbs of France’s largest cities, there are often underdeveloped communities, called banlieues, where there is a long track record of tension between police and residents of these areas—and sometimes the response to police behavior results in riots.
Under Macron, the French government has adopted an increasingly anti-Islam stance in recent months, intensifying raids and pressure on mosques and Muslim associations.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said state services would be inspecting 76 mosques, adding that some of them could be closed as a result.
He said 16 mosques in the French capital, Paris, and 60 in the rest of the country would be checked, and that 18 of them would be targeted with "immediate actions” at his request.
Macron described Islam as a religion "in crisis” and declared war on "Islamist separatism,” which he claimed was taking over France’s estimated six-million-strong Muslim population.
French public policy focuses on French national identity as a means to integrate its minority populations and this approach creates an environment of systemic discrimination because there are no reliable indicators of social, economic or political inequalities.
In France, identifying as anything other than French is considered to be a threat to collective French identity.
Outside, in the suburbs of France’s largest cities, there are often underdeveloped communities, called banlieues, where there is a long track record of tension between police and residents of these areas—and sometimes the response to police behavior results in riots.
Under Macron, the French government has adopted an increasingly anti-Islam stance in recent months, intensifying raids and pressure on mosques and Muslim associations.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said state services would be inspecting 76 mosques, adding that some of them could be closed as a result.
He said 16 mosques in the French capital, Paris, and 60 in the rest of the country would be checked, and that 18 of them would be targeted with "immediate actions” at his request.
Macron described Islam as a religion "in crisis” and declared war on "Islamist separatism,” which he claimed was taking over France’s estimated six-million-strong Muslim population.