The heavy-handed policing of anti-government “yellow vest” demonstrations, during which thousands of protesters have been arrested and many wounded, reflects a steady erosion of civil liberties in France, the country’s human rights watchdog said.
The independent watchdog called for policing methods to be modernised, citing changes in Germany and Britain, in a report released on the day the Senate is expected to approve a bill giving police greater powers to act against protesters.
Emergency powers handed to police following the Islamist militant attacks in 2015 had crept into common practice, said Jacques Toubon, head of the Defenseur des Droits de l’Homme (Defender of Human Rights) body.
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