Violence takes over the demonstrations against the pension reform in France

The Police investigate possible abuses while unions repudiate the "social parasites" that destroy peaceful marches

MADRID, 24 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

France has lived this past morning its most violent night since the beginning of the protests against the pension reform of the French Government; a day that has resulted in more than 450 detainees and more than 900 fires in the capital, Paris alone, to which must be added the burning of the door of the Bordeaux City Hall.

In the midst of this situation, the Police and organizing unions have each recognized in their own way the extremism that is beginning to dominate the development of the work stoppages.

To give two examples, the French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, has confirmed the opening of eleven investigations for alleged excessive force among riot police officers while the leader of the union of the French Management / General Executives Confederation (CFE-CGC ), François Hommeril, lamented the presence of "social parasites" whom he has accused of blowing up the peaceful rallies to force clashes with the security forces.

Leaving aside these investigations, the French authorities have applauded the general response of the security forces, but organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) or Amnesty International have once again criticized the French Police for "excessive use of force and arrests arbitrary actions" while Reporters Without Borders has denounced cases of aggression by agents "against clearly identified journalists".

Amnesty France, for example, specifically points to the Police for abusing the use of batons -a protester ended up with an amputated testicle during a police charge on March 19-, as well as tear gas or shock grenades, and puts in dispute the regime of detentions applied in marches such as those of March 16.

That day, 292 people ended up in police custody for a few hours, after which 283 were released without charge, a number so high compared to the initial arrests that Human Rights Watch even perceives it as the result of a wave of "arbitrary deprivations of liberty ". The office of the French Human Rights Ombudsman warns, in this regard, that this kind of wholesale arrests "feeds tension and could lead to the disproportionate use of preventive custody measures."

"I am following the demonstrations in France very closely," adds the UN rapporteur for freedom of association, Clement Voule. "Peaceful demonstrations are a fundamental right that the authorities must guarantee and protect," he adds, "and law enforcement officials must facilitate their development and avoid excessive use of force."

The French government, led by President Emmanuel Macron, has come out in defense of the security forces. "I have seen scenes in which our gendarmes have been subjected to completely disproportionate attacks at the hands of extremely violent militants equipped for the fight," said the president before recalling the 441 policemen injured on Thursday, 14 of them hospitalized. The Paris Police Prefect, Laurent Nuñez, has already filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office on behalf of his department.

For his part, Hommeril has transferred the rejection on behalf of the inter-union against the violent action of "groups of nihilists who do nothing but harm the peaceful marches against the pension reform", he has made known on his Twitter account. "They are nothing more than parasites that feed on and weaken the social movement, and their actions are intolerable," he added.