France: Repression of pension protests and strikes

Amid weeks of protests against the French government’s pension reforms, state repression has also intensified.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in street protests and strikes across France amid fears of violent clashes with police, as demonstrations continue against Emmanuel Macron’s use of constitutional executive powers to push through an unpopular increase in the retirement age.
According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, more than 13,000 police, including 5,500 in Paris, were deployed across the country. The record number was justified by “a major risk to public order”, the interior minister said.
Independent journalists have documented the excessive use of force by security guards against protesters in several French cities.

An audio clip of more than 20 minutes, discreetly recorded by a member of a group of seven people arrested on 20 March during a demonstration against pension reform in France, has shed a harsh light on the behavior of police officers, in total contradiction with their ethical rules and with the law.
The founder of the Civicio channel, an independent journalist, posted, on 15th of April 2023, on his Twitter account @CivicioY scenes of violence by the CRS, a police unit specializing in urban violence against the protesters without discrimination. The police beat and dragged men and women for about ten meters before immobilizing them.
The inhumane behavior of the French police in suppressing protesters against pension reform alarmed the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic, who criticized the “excessive use of force”, calling on France to respect the right to demonstrate.
“Violent incidents have taken place, some of which have targeted law enforcement officials,” the commissioner said in a statement.

“But sporadic acts of violence by some demonstrators or other wrongdoing by others during a demonstration cannot justify the excessive use of force by state agents. Nor are such acts sufficient to deprive peaceful demonstrators of the enjoyment of the right to freedom of assembly,” she continued.
Disruptive demonstrations broke out nationwide in reaction to the government invoking Article 49.3 of the French Constitution to pass the pension reform without requiring a vote in the National Assembly. The reform raises the retirement age from 62 to 64. The proposed amendment has prompted widespread civil unrest through early 2023.