Police brutality is exploding and ridiculing France, says report

The video made the rounds on social media. A policeman, armed with an LBD 40, shoots a protester and gives him a violent” Here, pick your balls, you son of a bitch In recent days, similar images have flooded the platforms, as spontaneous demonstrations multiply across France, in reaction to the government’s use of 49.3 to force pension reform. To the point that the Advisory Commission National Human Rights Council (CNCDH) denounced, in a press release published on Thursday 23 March 2023, the actions of the police.

Unlawful police brutality

” In January 2020, the CNCDH had already warned about unlawful police violence, in the context of the yellow vest movement. I deeply regret that three years later, the CNCDH has to make the same finding of abusive and disturbing actions by the police said Jean-Marie Burguburu, president of the CNCDH. Abusive use of police custody, multiplication of traps (practice in violation of the requirements of the national plan for maintaining order), physical assaults, arrest of journalists… the list of abuses reported by the CNCDH report is long.

“These excesses in the use of force by the police undermine the population’s trust in public institutions. Increased police repression cannot be the adequate response to the political and social problems the government is currently facing. »

CNCDH, March 23, 2023

Following its report, the commission said it had informed the monitoring mechanisms of the United Nations and the Council of Europe, further urging relevant authorities to strongly remind law enforcement agencies.” the legal framework of their interventions, in the service of guaranteeing fundamental freedoms. The judicial authority must also fully play its role as guardian of individual freedom “.

While France will soon be scrutinized by member states of the UN Human Rights Council, the commission is also concerned about France’s credibility on the international scene.

An attack on freedom of demonstration and freedom of the press

The CNCDH denounces an attack on the freedom to demonstrate and the freedom of the press. Quoting the Constitutional Council, he recalls that “ freedom of expression and communication, from which the right to the collective expression of ideas and opinions derives, is all the more precious as its exercise is a condition of democracy and one of the guarantees of respect for other rights and freedoms “.

The report aligns with the various alarms raised, both by the international media and by human rights associations such as Amnesty International France:

Some media even took the time to remind the police of their rights and duties:

While today, Thursday 23 March, is the ninth day of massive mobilization against pension reform, let’s hope the police understand that they are not above the law.