Extensive discontent was aroused by a bill proposed by the Forward Republic party group in the lower house of the French parliament, the National Assembly.
The law imposes criminal penalties for the “malicious” use of video and photo shooting by law enforcement officials.
Hundreds of journalists and human rights defenders held a demonstration outside the National Assembly in Paris. In their view, the new law violates the right of citizens to be photographed in order to prove acts of violence by the defenders of law and order. They called it the law on the destruction of freedom.
Article 24 of the Global Security Act prescribes a penalty of €45,000 or up to one year in prison for those who “distribute a photograph of a person” by a police officer or gendarmerie on duty in order to “cause psychological or physical harm”.
The protest has escalated into riots. The police used gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.