"So there are two solutions, or you go, or I call you", exclaims a police officer in front of the camera of independent reporter Clément Lanot.
The scene takes place on November 17, during the dispersion under tension of a demonstration against the law on “global security” near the Solferino station, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.
At the same time, Rémy Buisine, journalist for the online media Brut, is brutally controlled by the police.
After a first blow with a baton, he is grabbed by the arms and threatened with arrest.
"We have rarely seen so many incidents with the police"
At least two journalists, Hannah Nelson, photographer for Taranis News and a journalist from France 3, are placed in police custody for several hours.
All were threatened or arrested for the same reason: to have remained present at the scene of the dispersion despite the summons of the peacekeepers.
"We have rarely seen so many incidents with the police and journalists on a demonstration like that of Tuesday evening," said Clément Lanot, two days after his mishap.
"I don't want to believe that it could go on like this"
The new plan for maintaining order, presented by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin in September, is largely responsible for this unprecedented situation.
This text, already criticized by journalists' unions when it was published, reaffirms, among other things, the obligation of journalists to leave a crowd in the event of a summons.
A doctrine hitherto applied with great flexibility by the CRS and mobile gendarmes, to let reporters work.
"Journalists move away, move away but continue to work", points out Clément Lanot, used to covering demonstrations under tension.
"I don't want to believe that it could go on like this and become normal."
These incidents occur during the examination of the law on “global security” and its article 24, a text strongly criticized by the Defender of rights and journalists' unions for its possible obstacles to freedom of information.