Police across France are under pressure to maintain security during further protests expected in some cities, while facing scrutiny over their riot-control tactics used during previous unrest that left some teenagers seriously injured.
Officers have appeared outnumbered and overwhelmed during last weekend's protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. Authorities have announced police reinforcements ahead of further protests expected on Saturday, amid fears of renewed violence.
A 17-year-old girl lost an eye while participating in a protest in Mulhouse last Saturday, while a 17-year-old boy lost a hand in Saint-Etienne. Other teenagers have suffered disabling injuries during weeks of high school blockades and street demonstrations.
French police forces are equipped with batons, tear gas, sound grenades and foam-round launchers, as well as riot shields equipped with powerful strobe lights designed to disorient protesters. Electric stun guns are prohibited in crowd-control operations.
“Intermediate-force weapons are defensive response tools that allow law enforcement officers to respond to a threat in a graduated and proportionate manner,” French National Police said in a statement to The Associated Press.
Earlier this month, Amnesty International called for a permanent ban on all stun grenades, saying they are designed to shock, disorient and sow panic, and that some can cause permanent hearing loss and life-changing injuries from blasts and shrapnel.
United Nations guidance on what it calls “less-lethal weapons” says kinetic impact projectiles should be used only against an imminent threat, targeting the abdomen and never the head, face or neck. Firing from elevated positions or at close range, or bouncing rounds off the ground, can increase the risk of serious injury.
Foam-round launchers were initially developed for military training and later adapted for “high-risk, hostage-type situations” and anti-terrorism operations, said Patrick Wilckin, an arms researcher at Amnesty International.
The use of such weapons reflects a broader shift in French policing toward keeping officers at a distance from protesters, said Jean-Marie Godard, an author specializing in France's internal security.
In the early 2000s, France's conservative government moved away from community policing, which emphasized foot patrols and engagement with residents, toward specialized riot-control units.
French policing today differs from that in many other European countries, according to Laura Keesmann, a sociologist at the University of Antwerp who led a wide-ranging comparative study of policing methods in France, the U.K., the Netherlands and Sweden. In the other countries studied, police often engage directly with demonstrators, sometimes mingling with crowds to defuse tensions, she said.
“That is just really, really not the case in France,” she said. “There's much more of an authoritarian way of policing.”
France has more than 250,000 national police officers and gendarmes. Police generally operate in cities, while gendarmes usually cover rural areas and smaller towns. Both forces fall under the Interior Ministry, which said 997 officers and gendarmes were injured during Saturday's unrest, seven of them seriously.
Police said more than 100 protesters and residents were injured in Paris on Saturday. Authorities have not released a nationwide injury tally. About 2,400 people were arrested across France that day.
Godard said protest movements have become increasingly decentralized as labor unions have lost influence over demonstrations, drawing a wider range of participants, including radical groups.
French authorities have blamed much of the recent violence on far-left radicals, accusing them of orchestrating clashes with police and targeting public buildings. Others took advantage of the unrest to loot businesses, authorities said. - AP
