Dozens of rallies are planned Saturdayagainst a new French law that would restrict sharing images of police, onlydays after the country was shaken by footage showing officers beating and racially abusing a black man, reports AFP.
The case shocked France with celebrities and politicians alike condemningthe officers’ actions, and has brought debate over President EmmanuelMacron’s law to boiling point.
One of the most controversial elements of the new law is Article 24, whichwould criminalise the publication of images of on-duty police officers withthe intent of harming their “physical or psychological integrity”.
It was passed by the National Assembly last week — although it isawaiting Senate approval — provoking rallies and protests across France.
Rally organisers are calling for the article to be withdrawn, claimingthat it contradicts “the fundamental public freedoms of our Republic”.
“This bill aims to undermine the freedom of the press, the freedom toinform and be informed, the freedom of expression,” one of Saturday’s protestorganisers said.
Trade unions are expected to join the demonstrations, with members of theyellow vests — whose sometimes violent protests in 2018 and 2019 shook thecountry — also expected.
In Paris, the authorities had demanded that organisers limit the rally toa single location, but on Friday evening officials authorised a march.
And in a sign that the government could be preparing to backtrack, PrimeMinister Jean Castex announced Friday that he would appoint a commission toredraft Article 24.
Under the article, offenders could be sentenced to up to a year in jail,and fined 45,000 euros ($53,000) for sharing images of police officers.
The government says the provision is intended to protect officers fromdoxxing and online abuse, but critics say it is further evidence of theMacron administration’s slide to the right.
But media unions say it could give police a green light to preventjournalists — and social media users — from documenting abuses.
They point to the case of music producer Michel Zecler, whose racial abuseand beating at the hands of police was recorded by CCTV and later publishedonline, provoking widespread criticism of the officers’ actions.
In another instance, journalists on the ground at a French migrant campwitnessed and recorded police brutality on Monday as the Paris area wascleared.
Protests over police brutality have already taken place elsewhere incountry ahead of Saturday.
In the southern city of Toulouse demonstrators took to the streets onFriday evening brandishing placards with slogans like “police everywhere,justice nowhere”.
In western Nantes police said around 3,500 rallied, while organisers putthe crowd at 6,000-7,000.
