PARIS (AP) — Paris police took more than 100 people into custody at what quickly became a tense and sometimes ill-tempered protest Saturday against proposed security laws, with officers wading into the crowds of several thousand to haul away suspected trouble-makers.
Police targeted protesters they suspected might coalesce together into violent groups like those who vandalized stores and vehicles and attacked officers at previous demonstrations.
Riot police officers control a group of protesters during a protest against a proposed bill , Saturday, Dec.12, 2020 in Paris. The bill’s most contested measure could make it more difficult for people to film police officers. It aims to outlaw the publication of images with intent to cause harm to police. The provision has caused such an uproar that the government has decided to rewrite it. Critics fear the law could erode press freedom and make it more difficult to expose police brutality. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)
A riot police officer uses a spray gains demonstrators during a protest, Saturday, Dec.12, 2020 in Paris. Protests are planned in France against a proposed bill that could make it more difficult for witnesses to film police officers. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
The interior minister reported 119 arrests in Paris by late afternoon. Long lines of riot officers and police vehicles with blue lights flashing escorted Saturday’s march through rain-slickened streets. They hemmed in protesters, seeking to prevent the flare-up of violence that marked many previous demonstrations.
A police water cannon doused demonstrators at the end of the march, as night fell.
A police vehicle drives on the Place de la Republique after a protest against a proposed security bill, Saturday, Dec.12, 2020 in Paris. The bill’s most contested measure could make it more difficult for people to film police officers. It aims to outlaw the publication of images with intent to cause harm to police. The provision has caused such an uproar that the government has decided to rewrite it. Critics fear the law could erode press freedom and make it more difficult to expose police brutality. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
A protester gestures as police use a water cannon during a demonstration in Paris on December 12, 2020, against the ‘global security’ draft law. – It is the third weekend of demonstrations in France during protests against a security bill currently going through French parliament, that would restrict publication of pictures showing the faces of police. (Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP via Getty Images)
Marchers were protesting against a proposed security law that has sparked successive weekends of demonstrations and against a draft law aimed at combating Islamist radicalism.
The security bill’s most contested measure could make it more difficult to film police officers. It aims to outlaw the publication of images with intent to cause harm to police. Critics fear it could erode media freedom and make it more difficult to expose police brutality. The provision caused such an uproar that the government has decided to rewrite it.
A riot mobile gendarmes holds a tear gas GM2L hand grenade during a demonstration in Paris on December 12, 2020, against the ‘global security’ draft law. – It is the third weekend of demonstrations in France during protests against a security bill currently going through French parliament, that would restrict publication of pictures showing the faces of police. (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP) (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images)
Slogans on placards carried by marchers in Paris said “I will never stop filming” and “Camera equals mutilation?”
There were also protests in other cities. In Lyon, in the southeast, authorities reported five arrests among people they said attacked police and sought to loot shops.
A man has blood on his face during a protest against a proposed bill, Saturday, Dec.12, 2020 in Paris. The bill’s most contested measure could make it more difficult for people to film police officers. It aims to outlaw the publication of images with intent to cause harm to police. The provision has caused such an uproar that the government has decided to rewrite it. Critics fear the law could erode press freedom and make it more difficult to expose police brutality. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)
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