Violence during demonstrations: the government "reflects" on a response to the "new uses" of the thugs

Europe1 .fr with AFP 16:54 pm, May 03, 2023

The government is "thinking" about how to "adapt" to the "new uses" of "breakers" during demonstrations, said Wednesday the spokesman of the government, Olivier Véran, after the Keeper of the Seals Eric Dupond-Moretti announced a work on the subject with his counterpart of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.

A new law?

"There is a double obligation. The obligation to guarantee the safety of those who demonstrate. And the obligation to ensure that those who are there to kill, to break, are put out of harm's way and that they can not participate in these events, "explained Olivier Véran during the report of the Council of Ministers.

"Does the legislative arsenal, does the law today allow to do it? I recall that in 2019, we adopted an important text that allowed to have improvements" but "we had not gone completely to the end," he continued, referring to the law adopted against the backdrop of the yellow vest crisis and whose Constitutional Council had however censored certain measures, including the possibility for prefects to pronounce administrative bans on demonstrations.

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"No answer at this stage" on the need for a new law, for the government spokesman. But "in any case, we are thinking about it," said Eric Dupond-Moretti in the morning on RTL, specifying that he would meet Gérald Darmanin on Friday to "work together" on this subject.

Call for "moderation"

During the Council of Ministers, Emmanuel Macron made "the distinction between those who demonstrated, once again freely, and those who came to break, to kill. He recalled his support for the internal security forces very mobilized" and "sometimes even ostracized by part of the political class", "on the side of the extreme left", also declared Olivier Véran.

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"If justice is seized, systematically, it is because we are in a democracy that works. And if there are people who are released, it is because we are in a democracy that works, "he also replied, asked about the "violations of fundamental rights" denounced by the General Controller of Deprivation of Liberty, Dominique Simonnot, for people arrested in Paris in demonstrations against the pension reform.

"I invite everyone to be moderate in the face of the exceptional violence we have witnessed," he added.