Live: Hundreds of protests expected in France amid high tensions and heavy police presence
Özet haber: A coalition of the “Yellow Vests” movement, labor unions and students will march across France on Saturday with demands centered around studying conditions and purchasing power. Some 70,000 police will be deployed with authorities fearing ransacking and looting similar to the unrest that erupted last Saturday on the sidelines of protests that saw at least 550,000 participants. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.
French police forces are equipped with batons, tear gas, sound grenades and foam-round launchers, as well as riot shields equipped with powerful strobe lights designed to disorient protesters. Electric stun guns are prohibited in crowd-control operations.
“Intermediate-force weapons are defensive response tools that allow law enforcement officers to respond to a threat in a graduated and proportionate manner,” French National Police said in a statement to The Associated Press. But critics, including families of injured teenagers, say the police have been too heavy-handed.
Some have called for bans on foam-round launchers, tear gas and stun grenades, echoing demands made by human rights groups since the violent 2018 “yellow vest” protests. United Nations guidance on what it calls “less-lethal weapons” says kinetic impact projectiles should be used only against an imminent threat, targeting the abdomen and never the head, face or neck.
Firing from elevated positions or at close range, or bouncing rounds off the ground, can increase the risk of serious injury.
All protests planned for Saturday in Marseille and Lyon, France's second- and third-largest cities, have been banned, local authorities said. Yet fresh demonstrations are already taking shape before what officials fear could be another volatile weekend. More details below ⬇️October 24 protests in France: Measures taken in major cities. Sylvie Husson, Valentina Breschi, AFP
France will deploy some 70,000 police nationwide as it braces for new protests this weekend after urban violence in years erupted on the sidelines of demonstrations a week ago, the government said Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who according to aides is postponing a visit later this month to Nigeria and Senegal amid the crisis, held a meeting of his defence council of top ministers and officials and was to meet security forces.
He also met representatives of secondary school pupils for the first time, but they emerged from the talks urging students to keep protesting until the government put forward concrete proposals to address their demands. Read more below ⬇️
Welcome to our liveblog covering the mass protest movement in France.
Kaynak: France 24 · Özgün metin İngilizcedir.
