"I promised not to be able to continue spreading images of policemen and gendarmes on social media; I have kept my word, because the law is going to ban the dissemination of these images," he added. That is what the French Minister for the Interior, Gerard Darmanin, has made clear, at the head of the Commission. The prohibition that restricts the rights of journalists is framed in the bill known as “the new national system of maintenance of order”. According to this bill, journalists and photographers will not be able to record or photograph police and gendarmerie abuses.

It is not the only cut that is taken in relation to this profession. As soon as the order is issued to end the demonstration, journalists will also have to evict the places, follow this new bill. “The crime of detention after the eviction order has no exception, it also serves journalists and members of associations.” Thus, NGOs have asked them whether the status of “observer” has been rejected. As a protest against this measure, journalists, photographers and citizens broadcast on social networks photos of police repression with the tag #CettePhotoNexisteraPlus #FotHauEzDaMore.

The document, drawn up by the French Government for eighteen months, contains the necessary measures to "maintain order" in the Autonomous Community. In their sights are the so-called casseur or "disturbing corners", that is, the protesters who make use of violence. With these anti-journalists measures, however, it is clear that the Government wishes to silence the repression and injustices committed by the police and to incite against social movements. Demonstrations in the French State are becoming increasingly violent, and the work of journalists remains essential for the injustices that are needed to be made public. In the Jaca demonstrations there were a total of 2,500 contusions.

In addition, journalists working on the cover-up of demonstrations should have a press letter, yes or no. According to the law, so far it is not necessary and many journalists are working without the press release.

In recent years, and especially since President Emmanuel Macron is in power, more and more journalists are facing police repression. Let us say, at a time when Christophe Castaner was Minister of the Interior, that is, between October 2018 and July 2020, 200 journalists have not been able to do their work, banned by the police and the gendarmes.

The journalists' union SNJ and Amnesty International show their anger

"The Minister of the Interior continues to trample on freedom of the press," according to the National Journalists' Union (SNJ), which is the main union of this profession. He warns that journalists are independent and the government cannot channel them. Amnesty International also strongly criticises the law: “It opens the way to injustice, the police can take material from a journalist, just because their attitude doesn’t like it.”

Use of arms forward

In addition to journalistic control, the law is more general and allows, among other things, the use of LBD40 bullets and GM2M grenades. Amnesty International calls for a ban on the following weapons: “We call for a ban on unlocking grenades, because their effect is disproportionate – the planned lighters can seriously hurt people – and because it is indiscriminate – they are beating randomly after throwing them into the crowd. We also call for the suspension of LBD40 units due to the severity of the injuries inflicted (loss of eye, stomach or skull fracture…). It is also not appropriate to replace the GLI-F4 grenade with a GM2L grenade. GM2L is not only tear gas, it also does. This double effect is detrimental: tear gas must be used to disperse it, but it is not reasonable to increase the binding effect, as it disorients people and there is a risk that dispersion will become more difficult”. Amnesty International points out that France is the only European state to use these grenades. In the framework of this new proposal for a law, it is specified that violence "must be channelled strictly by the police and gendarmes".

Part of this new law concerns the judicial response to crimes committed in the field of demonstrations. There are also a number of points that can be criticised in the eyes of Amnesty International: “What’s the problem? That many of these laws do not comply with the laws of international law. Let us say that the law against the casseur or the "disturbing corners" does not even serve to punish the organizer of an undeclared demonstration. In international law, because not declaring a demonstration on its own does not make the demonstration illegal.

Police abuses in the French State have multiplied in recent years. Enough! According to the independent media, between 1977 and 2019, 676 murders of citizens of French nationality have been recorded. Social networks are often the means to express the abuses they want to go through in silence, as you can see in the video: