France Looks Like A Dystopian Warzone Movie As Thousands Take on Hundreds Of Cops

Demonstrations took place across France on Saturday against the proposed global security law and its signature measure to restrict the filming of police officers. They came as calls to withdraw it were exacerbated by cases of police violence this week.

The police prefecture initially restricted the main protest to République Square, but the decision was overturned by an administrative court and a collective was allowed to march from République to Bastille as the organizers had requested. The route is typical for protests in Paris.

The collective, called "Stop Loi Sécurité Globale" or Stop Global Security Law, is composed of journalists' unions, human rights NGOs and other groups. They are advocating for the withdrawal of articles 21 and 22 of the proposed law, "which organize mass surveillance," and article 24, which would penalize the "malicious" dissemination of the image of police officers.

They also call for the suppression of the so-called "New National Policing Scheme," announced in September by Minister of Interior Gerald Darmanin, which forces journalists to disperse during demonstrations when ordered to do so by the police, thus preventing them from covering the aftermath of protests, often stormy in recent years.