Human rights experts mandated by the UN say France should thoroughly review its policing practices, expressing concern at the "reported excessive use of force" against protesters.
The independent experts highlighted the policing of this year's nationwide protests against pensions reform, as well as demonstrations in the countryside against the installation of huge water "basins" to irrigate crops.
"The lack of restraint in the use of force against [protesters] ... would not only be anti-democratic, but profoundly worrying for the protection of the rule of law," they said in a statement.
It was signed by seven of the United Nations' special rapporteurs – experts appointed to investigate and report back to the UN on their areas of expertise. They are not, however, UN staff and do not speak for the UN.
'Alarming' violence
At the request of the UN's Human Rights Council, the experts looked at reports that the "Brav-M" motorised brigade in Paris had "threatened and hit demonstrators", and that officers had allegedly fired rubber bullets from moving quad bikes at a protest against the "basins" in Sainte-Soline.
While they acknowledged that some "isolated acts of violence have damaged public property and injured members of the security forces", they warned that "the number of people injured and the severity of reported acts of violence is alarming".
They highlighted the fact that France was the only country in Europe to use teargas and stun grenades to disperse crowds during public order operations.
In their statement, they called on France to carry out a full review of their policing methods, and to "ensure the right to peaceful protest".
"We remind France that any policing strategy must respect the principles of necessity and proportionality," they added.
'Criminalising' language
They also drew attention to the government's use of rhetoric "criminalising" human rights and environmental activists – a thinly veiled allusion to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin's labelling of some green activism as "ecoterrorism".
There has been growing concern inside France at what critics say is the disproportionate use of violence by police during the recent protests.
An online petition calling for Brav-M brigade to be disbanded has gathered more than 260,000 signatures.
The UN's Human Rights Council expressed similar concerns on the "excessive use of force by police and gendarmerie against protestors" on 1 May this year.
It previously levelled criticism over French policing of the sometimes violent "yellow vest" protests during President Emmanuel Macron's first term.
(with AFP)
