The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatovic, was alarmed on Friday by an “excessive use of force” against demonstrators against the pension reform, calling on France to respect the right to manifest.
“Violent incidents have taken place, some of which have targeted law enforcement,” the Commissioner said in a statement. “But sporadic acts of violence by some protesters or other wrongdoing by others during a protest cannot justify excessive use of force by state agents. Nor are these acts sufficient to deprive peaceful protesters of the enjoyment of the right to freedom of assembly,” she continued. in a public statement.
VIDEO. Night of March 20 in Paris: images of “police violence” denounced by the opposition
“While a State may be authorized to use force in order, in particular, to restore order, such use must only take place as a last resort and in strict compliance with the conditions of necessity and proportionality, the primary obligation incumbent on any member state of the Council of Europe being to protect the persons under its jurisdiction and their human rights,” this press release further underlines.
Recommendations already shared during the Yellow Vests crisis
The European Commissioner pats the fingers of the French government, she is also concerned about the arrest and placement in police custody of certain demonstrators and people in the vicinity of the demonstrations for facts that do not justify resorting “to measures which are so prejudicial to the right to liberty and security”.
“The violence must stop. This is a necessary condition for the effective exercise of the freedoms of expression and assembly, as well as for trust between the population and the police,” concludes the Commissioner in this offensive text. This press release also invites the French authorities to follow the recommendations formulated in its Memorandum on the maintenance of order and freedom of assembly in the context of the “Yellow Vests” movement, as well as those issued this week by the Advocate of rights and the National Advisory Commission on Human Rights. A large stone in the gardens of the Élysée and Place Beauvau.