The freedom marches against the law on global security and police violence gathered 133,000 people in around 70 cities across France on Saturday. people – according to the data of the French Ministry of the Interior from 18.46 thousand people demonstrated in Paris, where police used tear gas and water cannons.
According to the organizers, the marches gathered a total of about half a million people – reports the AFP agency.
The afternoon protest in Paris was peaceful, but at the end of the day, demonstrators clashed with police using water cannons in the area of Place de la Bastille. A total of 46 people were arrested in Paris and the region. 23 members of the security forces were injured in Paris and 14 in the entire capital region, the French Interior Ministry said.
The head of the ministry, Gerald Darmanin, condemned on his Twitter account “unacceptable violence against the police”.
Demonstrations of many thousands, apart from Paris, were held in around 70 cities, including in Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Marseille, Grenoble, Rennes and Montpellier.
Ok. On Saturday, a crowd of 46,000 filled the Republic Square and the surrounding streets, reports the AP agency. People held red union flags, tricolor flags of France, and self-made banners with slogans condemning police violence; media freedom was demanded and French President Emmanuel Macron and Minister Darmanin were called to step down.
The crowd included journalists, students of journalism, left-wing activists, representatives of organizations for the rights of migrants and citizens with different political views, PA informs. They have objected to the tightening of – as they argue – police tactics in recent years, especially since the French protest movement against the country’s economic difficulties emerged in 2018.
In the capital, protesters also demanded the departure of Didier Lallement, the prefect of the Paris police, who they accused of tolerating violence and racist behavior among officers.
At the end of the day in Paris, groups of demonstrators erected barricades and lit several fires with smoke and stench over them. The fire that occupied the kiosk, bar and the facade of the Bank of France was brought under control at approx. 18 – reports the AFP agency.
Reuters writes that hundreds of black-clad demonstrators clashed with police at the end of a protest in the capital after masked demonstrators fired flares and pelted the police with stones and paving stones. Previously, most protested peacefully, but small groups of masked demonstrators in black smashed shop windows and set fire to two cars, a motorcycle and a coffee shop. The fires were quickly extinguished. Police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, and in the early evening a water cannon was used on the remaining protest groups in Bastille Square.
According to the Bordeaux prefecture, about 6,000 people took to the streets on Saturday. people, the organizers of the march say that there were 20 thousand of them.
The law currently pending in parliament provides for a sentence of up to 1 year in prison and a fine of PLN 45,000. euro for the dissemination of facial images or any other element allowing the identification of police officers during their interventions. Prime Minister Jean Castex announced last week that Art. 24 of the Act will be rewritten and reviewed by a special legislative committee.
kpc/PAP
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