Riot police argue with a press photographer during clashes with demonstrators during a demonstration organized by the yellow vests movement in Bordeaux, February 2, 2019. -

GEORGES GOBET / AFP

They denounce a law which, they fear, would have the effect of "restricting the freedom of the press".

On Monday, the main journalists' unions and the League for Human Rights (LDH) denounced the proposed law on "global security" which would penalize the "malicious" use of images of the police.

This controversial text, carried by LREM and Agir, is supposed to consolidate the municipal police forces and the private security sector, but also to further protect the police, victims of a series of attacks.

This law implies "prohibiting the dissemination, by any means, of the image of a police officer, a gendarme or a soldier in operation, with the aim of harming their physical or mental integrity", recalls in a press release the intersyndicale SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT-Journalists, SGJ-FO, alongside the LDH and the international and European federations of journalists.

"Clientelist response"

But this "new offense", punishable by one year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros, "has the real objective of restricting the rights of journalists and the freedom of the press disproportionately compared to the reality of the threat" , assure these organizations.

"It would make it possible to arrest any journalist who films live a police operation, to place him in custody" by seizing his material and "to send it to a court", alone "able to determine whether the intention malicious is established, ”they argue.

"Clientelist response from the Ministry of the Interior to most police unions", the text "also aims to prevent the revelation of cases of illegitimate police violence, often concealed by the hierarchy of officials in question", believe the signatories of the press release, citing the cases of Geneviève Legay, a 73-year-old protester seriously injured in 2019 during a police charge in Nice, and Cédric Chouviat, delivery man who died during a check in Paris in January.

Consultation requested

In addition to a "pure and simple abolition" of the measure, they call on the Ministry of the Interior and the parliamentary group LREM to finally open a consultation with the representatives of journalists "already scalded" by the "new national plan for the maintenance of the order ”, synonymous for some with hindering the coverage of demonstrations.

Thursday, the Defender of Rights had warned of the "considerable risks" of attack on "freedom of information" raised by the text on "global security".

Adopted in the wake of the National Assembly's law committee, it will pass through the hemicycle from November 17.

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  • Freedom of press