SHARE
COPY LINK

POLICE

MAP: Dozens of French cities brace for new protests on Saturday

Protesters will be taking to the streets in cities across France on Saturday in yet another nationwide rallying cry against the French government's proposed security law.

MAP: Dozens of French cities brace for new protests on Saturday
"No justice no peace". Protesters in Paris lit several vehicles and torched other items along their route last Saturday. Photo: AFP

The collective Coordination Stop Loi Sécurité Globale, named after the bill in question, will hold protests in dozens of French cities.

Last Saturday's protests ended in violent clashes, especially in Paris, where fringe protesters clad in black attacked police who used tear gas, water cannons and batons in response.

Consisting of several journalism unions and human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, the collective was formed to contest the so-called “global security law”, which was passed in the lower house of French parliament but still faces legislative hurdles before entering into effect.

EXPLAINED: The new French law that restricts photos and videos of police officers

On Saturday they will also call on the government to withdraw an article in the so-called separatism bill (Law to strengthen Republican principles), which they say “risks reintroducing” the most controversial part of the security law, Article 24.

ANALYSIS: What is actually contained in France's new law against Islamic extremism?

The map below shows where there will be protests in France on Saturday:

Paris

Following last week's violent clashes in Paris, organisers said they had decided against rallying the masses in the capital on Saturday as “the conditions for protesters' safety are not guaranteed”.

INTERVIEW: A French Black Bloc rioter explains reasons for protest violence

An independent Facebook event has called for protesters to meet at 2.30pm at Place du Châtelet in Paris in a demonstration that will head towards Place de la République, both in the centre of the capital.

An exact itinerary has not yet been published, but the route will likely look something like this:

Photo: Google Maps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLICE

Denmark convicts man over bomb joke at airport

A Danish court on Thursday gave a two-month suspended prison sentence to a 31-year-old Swede for making a joke about a bomb at Copenhagen's airport this summer.

Denmark convicts man over bomb joke at airport

In late July, Pontus Wiklund, a handball coach who was accompanying his team to an international competition, said when asked by an airport agent that
a bag of balls he was checking in contained a bomb.

“We think you must have realised that it is more than likely that if you say the word ‘bomb’ in response to what you have in your bag, it will be perceived as a threat,” the judge told Wiklund, according to broadcaster TV2, which was present at the hearing.

The airport terminal was temporarily evacuated, and the coach arrested. He later apologised on his club’s website.

“I completely lost my judgement for a short time and made a joke about something you really shouldn’t joke about, especially in that place,” he said in a statement.

According to the public prosecutor, the fact that Wiklund was joking, as his lawyer noted, did not constitute a mitigating circumstance.

“This is not something we regard with humour in the Danish legal system,” prosecutor Christian Brynning Petersen told the court.

SHOW COMMENTS