Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin is due to present on Monday December 6 a revised version of his national law enforcement plan (SNMO), which specifies in particular the place and role of journalists during demonstrations, as ordered Justice.
Last June, the Council of State had inflicted a disavowal on the tenant of Place Beauvau by canceling several provisions of the new SNMO presented in September 2020 and by forcing him to review its copy.
Among the censored measures, the technique of "the trap" - which consists of surrounding the demonstrators and retaining them in a given perimeter - as presented by Gérald Darmanin and the obligation made to journalists to leave the scene of the demonstrations to their dispersion.
Read alsoAfter the violence filmed, the police under suspicion
The question of maintaining order has been the subject of heated controversy since the wave of protest against the labor law in 2016, and, above all, the movement of "
yellow vests
" in 2018-2019. Their processions were punctuated by violent clashes, degradations and numerous injuries in the ranks of the demonstrators, in particular knocked down by LBD (defense ball launcher) shots from the police.
A month before the Council of State's decision, the independent commission on relations between the press and the police had made proposals to bring the two parties together. It proposed in particular the non-use of accreditation for the press and the absence of any obligation to disperse during demonstrations. "
The new version of the national law enforcement plan will thus make it possible to decline the conclusions of this report,
" Emmanuel Macron announced in September, presenting the conclusions of the Beauvau security consultations. She "
will allow to devote the place and role of journalists but also to impose on all the stakeholders present in an event or at the end of an event of the rules which go with these exceptional situations as it should be
”, he added. .
Read also Violence against the police has doubled in fifteen years
"
According to our information, the revised SNMO complies with the decision of the Council of State,
" Anne-Sophie Simpere, Freedoms advocacy officer at Amnesty International France, told AFP. "
It was important, especially for the freedom to inform
." "
Still, the general logic of the scheme is problematic and will not make it possible to put an end to the human rights violations that we have observed
", continued Anne-Sophie Simpere, who lamented that the SNMO "
remains focused on repression rather than on the protection and safety of all
”.
In a study published on November 29, the Defender of Rights noted that
law enforcement agencies
in France seem "
strongly marked by a confrontational prism
" and inclined to apply the law with a "
mainly punitive approach
".