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TENS OF THOUSANDS of people marched in France yesterday to protest police violence, with clashes breaking out on the margins of the Paris rally.
The nationwide protest came just under three months after the point-blank-range killing by a policeman of a youth at a traffic check sparked more than a week of rioting in Paris and elsewhere.
In the capital, demonstrators of all ages held placards proclaiming “Stop state violence”, “Don’t forgive or forget” or “The law kills”.
Demonstrators took particular aim at article 435-1 of the internal security code, introduced in 2017, which extends authorities’ leeway to shoot in the event of a suspect’s refusal to comply.
They were responding to a call by the radical left including the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI).
Unions said some 80,000 people joined the protests across France, including 15,000 in Paris, but the interior ministry put the number at 31,300 nationwide, with 9,000 in Paris.
The government denounced “unacceptable violence” on the margins of the march in Paris, after officers were trapped in their police vehicle when it was attacked, an AFP correspondent said.
Hundreds of hooded people wearing black broke away from the main march of several thousand people in Paris.
They smashed the windows of a bank branch and threw objects at a police car stuck in traffic, an AFP reporter said.
Paris police said the car was attacked with a crowbar and that anti-riot officers were forced to intervene.
Police said three officers were slightly injured.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said three people had been arrested over the incident.
In total, six people were arrested throughout France, according to a report by the Ministry of the Interior.
Among those marching in the northern city of Lille was 27-year-old Mohamed Leknoun, whose brother Amine was killed in August 2022 after refusing to obey police orders.
“All this injustice destroys families,” he told AFP.
He deplored the fact that he had not been informed of any progress in the investigation since the police officer who fired the fatal shot was indicted.
The march came days after the IGPN, the inspectorate responsible for investigating police misconduct, released its annual report on the use of force by officers.
It showed that in 2022, 38 people died as a result of police action, including 22 who were shot dead. Thirteen of those deaths involved cases of someone refusing to comply with a police order.
In July, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – made up of 18 independent experts – flagged concerns about the “excessive use of force by law enforcement” in France.
It also called for the government to “adopt legislation that defines and prohibits racial profiling”.
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I’d say if the proposed Hate Speech legislation is passed we’ll see a marked increase in police brutality on the streets of Ireland too.
State sanctioned of course
@Tommy Haze: is that right
@Tommy Haze: nah
@Rowe: thugs showing up with gallows is absolutely a threat to our democracy, then again wouldn’t expect your type to understand grownup topics.
@Peter Barnwallace: attack our democracy? You mean oligarchy? Also if you think that our police force is without its flaws in the country you either dont know the history of the force or the current state of the force. Now in my view many of these protestors are far right influenced individuals and we agree that they do not represent anything positive in the country but to suggest everyone is far right & jobless shows a level of privilege. I have no time for the far right nor would I go to a protest like the one in question but i have been on social media platforms reading comments sections in media outlets & the far right are definitely not the angriest now. Lots of people are angry and its reached boiling point. Healy rae is definitely not in position to talk about spongers.
@Mic JHintl: what employer would go near those track suit wearing morons ?
@Peter Barnwallace: well if thats the employers attitude then that in itself is an issue. Remember no to long ago in Ireland no Catholics need apply was a regular caveat to jobs in newspapers. Also if that is the case then they have reason to be unemployed so you become a prisoner of your own actions. Employers are not the gardians of morality or good ethnics in the country but clearly you feel the need to wear a uniform & polish your boots to a mirror. That says far more about you than those you demean here but as i say these are not the greatest representation of whos angry now. There’s a far bigger group of people than this group. What say you of them. Will appearance tradition religion address or education help you to jufge them. It appears you & mr Healy have much in common.
@Peter Barnwallace:
THE CEANN COMHAIRLE Seán Ó Fearghaíl has said that politicians are to blame for public discontent. It’s not often you get that level of honesty from a communist.
@Peter Barnwallace: can you pinpoint exactly when you abandoned individual thought and started speaking solely in slogans gleaned from US TV news?
@Peter Barnwallace: I wear a track suit…. I’m a fully qualified carpenter whit a brain full of knowledge I support theses people…. you are the problem
@Peter Barnwallace: I wear a tracksuit and work as a manager am I not worthy or something u deluded little boot licker
@Tommy Haze: he’s absolutely correct, the Shinners and hard left’s behaviour is a disgrace, then again Shinners also want to destroy democracy, and the hard left the economy.
@desdaily1: “whit” “theses”. It’s crystal clear your level of education lad. The thugs you support are mindless animals.
@Tommy Haze: So many things wrong with that comment.
@Mic JHintl: well said
@Peter Barnwallace: how does someone with absolutely no back bone like you have such a massive chip on your shoulder. Careful don’t let your own shadow scare you.
Can’t protest here any more without getting arrested
@: Of course you can.
Can’t spread racist bigotry and hatred or call for the summary execution of democratically elected politicians any more without getting arrested. Good enough for ye.
@Rowe: the thugs outside the Dail last week
Demonstrating in Ireland now you will be deemed to be right-wing and a threat to democracy…however in 2010 when SF stormed government building where guards used batons to quail the unrest or the Jobstown protest against the water charge by the left was not seen by the government as a threat to democracy… it seems if the public does not follow the political consensus you will be deemed to be right-wing.
@Someone Financing The Welfare Leeches:
So you have no valid argument against the points he made. I was under the impression that Insulting another person who has made a comment rather than deleting the comments was against the Journal’s code of conduct.
@Nodon: that should read ‘debating’.
@Paul Maguire: So protesting austerity and water charges is the same as protesting Q-Anon adjacent bs? If they had been peaceful and maybe not brought a gallows they could’ve protested against their fantasies all they liked. I’d much prefer that these people left the more ‘quirky’ ideas out of it and protested real issues in an inclusive way where those of all ideological and political beliefs could also engage and put real pressure for change, instead they’ve done nothing other than put some wacky ideas in the spotlight and ostracised themselves from the majority opinion.
@Nodon: There are so many things wrong with what he said,why bother.
I’ve seen a video on X of masked youths violently attacking a police car with weapons. Far worse than anything seen in Dublin during the week.
Police have seen horror inflicted by peaceful cult members on their family friends and colleagues. They are in a battle for their country due to the influx of a non compatible culture.
Everyone should be allowed to try to run over the police with a car.
If you think otherwise,you’re obviously ultra far right.
Mean people in Ireland vent their anger and frustration on the internet and feel a sense of pride.
At some point in time, when the French ethnic population are eli. minated or converted then there will be peace.
Also a reason for police violence. Police in France is just amazing
Locals protesting for their demise is a similar situation to Turkeys voting for Christmas. It is indeed a topsy turvy world at the moment. Excessive empathy never bode well in the past.
And listening to the portly speaker of our own House, you cannot help but think this heavy handedness is what he would relish being meted out on those who dare disagree with the narrative.
Why not try and accommodate them? Afterall, Tatchell, a much vilified figure in the 1980s, was accommodated. As others have been. Has a coup taken place whereby those who disagree must be censored, ridiculed, made to feel unwanted in political discourse.
In that way lies totalitarianism.
Anti – police violence is a far – left thing in France. Anarchist thugs who want a révolution, and believe that will make France better.
In ireland if your from the hood and you’ve threatened to end someone’s life the chances are you’ll get a prison sentence of more then five years . What I saw outside the Dail last week was exactly what I consider life threatening behaviour
Makes a change from “thousands riot in protest at police violence”?
Multiculturalism doesn’t work
have your say