A group of lawyers announced this Friday the filing of 100 complaints for “arbitrary arrests and detentions” during protests in France against changes in the retirement age brought forward by French President Emmanuel Macron.
The arrests were intended to break “the social movement” of protest, said the twenty lawyers, represented at a press conference by lawyers Coline Bouillon, Aïnoha Pascual, Raphaël Kempf and Alexis Baudelin.
Since Macron announced the adoption of the reform by decree on March 16, protests have escalated with the burning of containers and clashes with police.
Security forces detained 292 people, of whom 283 were released without charge. Among those arrested were two Austrian teenagers traveling to Pari and a man who was involved in sports.
Since then, unions of lawyers, judges, human rights NGOs such as Amnesty International and left-wing parties have warned of police action.
“The sporadic acts of violence by some protesters and other reprehensible acts by others during a protest cannot justify excessive force.”warned the Council of Europe.
Source: DN
