Thousands of people protested in Paris on Saturday to denounce police violence and Emmanuel Macron’s security policy plans, which they say would infringe on civil liberties.
In one incident, police fired teargas and charged after fireworks were launched at their lines. Hooded youths smashed a shop window. There were violent clashes between protesters and police at a similar protest last week.
In a U-turn earlier this week, the French president’s ruling party said it would rewrite part of a draft security bill that would curb the right 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 Karine Shebabo, a Paris resident.
Another protester, Xavier Molenat, said: “France has this habit of curbing freedoms while preaching their importance to others.”
Footage that emerged last month of French police officers beating the black music producer Michel Zecler intensified public anger. The incident came to light when CCTV and mobile phone images were circulated online.
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 in law enforcement agencies. Many opponents of the draft law say it goes too far even as rewritten.
