"License to kill": Thousands of French protest bill on police use of force

Thousands of people took to the streets in Paris and other French cities the previous day to protest a bill on the lawful use of force, which critics say would give police and gendarmes a “license to kill,” Caliber.Az reports, citing French broadcaster France 24.

In July, members of the National Assembly approved the bill, under which any law enforcement officer who uses force with a weapon would be presumed to have acted within the law. The bill will now be put to a vote in the Senate.

Politicians, human rights organisations and other activists joined the demonstration in Paris, including Mathilde Panot of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.

“The police kill already,” Panot said, calling on the Senate to reject the bill. “In the Republic, there cannot be a category of citizens who have the right of life or death over other citizens.”

Among those taking part in the march was Amal Bentousi, the sister of Amine, a robber who was shot in the back by police during an incident in Seine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris, in 2012. According to Bentousi, what she called a “licence to execute” was intended to “reverse the burden of proof” in such cases.

Amnesty International, France's magistrates' union and the country’s Human Rights League also participated in the protest.

Dozens of other marches against the bill were organised in cities across France over the weekend. According to police figures, 4,500 people gathered in Lyon and 3,700 in Toulouse. A petition against the bill on the National Assembly’s website collected 730,000 signatures, but a parliamentary committee rejected it in July.

During a protest in Marseille, Cédric Picard of Amnesty International said: “We are afraid police violence would only grow with this law.”

“In a country where police abuse is among the worst, this law risks worsening the situation,” said one protester, a high school student who identified himself as Hugo.

According to French authorities, eight people were arrested in Rennes, while three police officers were injured after objects were thrown at them.

By Jeyhun Aghazada