The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, expressed alarm on Friday 24 March at an "excessive use of force" against demonstrators against the pension reform, calling on the France to respect the right to demonstrate.

"Violent incidents have taken place, some of which have targeted law enforcement," the commissioner said in a statement.

>> Read also: "In the midst of social conflict, the maintenance of order to the French pointed out"

"But sporadic acts of violence by some protesters or other wrongdoing by others during a demonstration cannot justify the 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.

"It is up to the authorities to allow the effective exercise of these freedoms, by protecting peaceful demonstrators and journalists covering these demonstrations from police violence and against violent individuals acting in or on the sidelines of the processions," she insisted.

⚡️M. Minister @GDarmanin urgently end violence against journalists covering the protests in #France. Ask the FDO to respect journalists' rights, in accordance with the SNMO. 👇🏻 https://t.co/BFRNCARhJk @RemyBuisine @ClementLanot pic.twitter.com/tSDDSUDzmu

— Christophe Deloire (@cdeloire) March 24, 2023

In recent days, lawyers' unions, magistrates' unions and left-wing politicians have denounced police violence during demonstrations against the pension reform.

The NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday called on Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin to "put an end to police violence against journalists".

Gérald Darmanin called to order

Dunja Mijatovic also expressed concern about the arrest and detention of some demonstrators and people in the vicinity of the demonstrations, questioning "the necessity and proportionality of the measures to which they have been subjected".

"The failure to declare a demonstration is not sufficient in itself to justify an infringement of the demonstrators' right to freedom of peaceful assembly, nor a criminal sanction imposed on participants in such a demonstration," she said, referring to Darmanin's remarks.

>> READ ALSO: "Pensions: police officers accused of violence and 'arbitrary' police custody criticized"

The minister had said on Tuesday that participation in an "undeclared demonstration" is an "offense" that "merits" an "arrest".

Gérald Darmanin also announced Friday the opening of eleven judicial investigations into alleged police violence for a week as part of the mobilization against the pension reform.

The Prefect of Police @NunezLaurent strongly condemns these ethically unacceptable remarks and refers the matter to the IGPN.#CàVous @France5tv @PoliceNationale pic.twitter.com/FLakqUBvyK

— Prefecture of Police (@prefpolice) March 24, 2023

An investigation entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) after threats and intimidation by police against young demonstrators in Paris, revealed in an audio recording obtained by Le Monde and the site Loopsider, is particularly talked about.

The prefect of police, Laurent Nuñez, "decided to seize the IGPN" after the "sound recording of a police intervention during a demonstration in Paris on March 20," tweeted the prefecture of police. This is an administrative investigation.

"You're lucky, we're going to take revenge on other people"

Monday, March 20, "about 2,000" people, in "small groups fragmented" according to the prefect of police, had demonstrated in the center of the capital, setting up barricades and burning garbage cans.

It is in this context that, according to Le Monde and Loopsider, police officers of the Brav-M, a unit criticized for its heavy-handed methods of intervention, arrested seven young people, suspected of having taken part in the damage.

One of the arrested then discreetly records the exchanges with the police. It shows officials making humiliating, threatening and intimidating remarks, including towards one of the seven youths.

In a twenty-minute audio recording obtained by Loopsider, several Brav-M police officers threaten and intimidate seven young people arrested Monday night after a demonstration against the pension reform. Here is part of this edifying document. pic.twitter.com/dvWDZbGQSb

— Loopsider (@Loopsidernews) March 24, 2023

"The next time we come, you won't get on the bus to go to the police station, you're going to get on another thing called an ambulance to go to the hospital," the recording reads.

Two sounds of slaps are also audible, before one of the policemen says: "You're starting to stutter! Maybe you want one again, that I put your right jaw back?" "I hope that tomorrow you are broken, you will take what, six months? Six months is good, and an OQTF [obligation to leave the territory, Editor's note]," another policeman told the young man, a Chadian national.

While one of their managers informs them that they must move to another district of Paris, one of the police officers concludes: "You're lucky, we're going to take revenge on other people."

With AFP

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