French public liberty body slams Paris police for human rights violations, preventive arrests

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) – Individual rights were violated by police detaining people in Paris after a protest against the government's pension reform, said a report released on Wednesday by France's independent public body on places of deprivation of liberty.

Controller-General for Places of Deprivation of Liberty Dominique Simonnot in the report criticized human rights violations and preventive arrests.

According to the report, three units of the organization visited nine police stations in the French capital on March 24 and 25, following the day's mass protest against the pension reform.

They inspected detention facilities and detainee treatment.

On April 17, Simonnot also wrote to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, criticizing the physical conditions of detainees as well as violations of fundamental rights during their detention.

The organization also released the letter's details, in which it reminded the government that under the European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence, people can only be arrested on suspicion of a crime or criminal attempt.

"My units observed that some arresting agents received instructions and hierarchical orders to arrest people in this or that district of the capital without any distinction," the controller-general stated in the report.

Simonnot added that 80% of the people are classified as non-case, with the rest being equated by the court.

However, most of them spent 24 hours in custody. Her organization can only question its true purpose, she said.

She noted that "this approach of policing not only reveals manipulation of police custody measures for repressive purposes."

Since January, French workers and trade unions have been mobilizing and expressing growing outrage at the government's pension reform.

Police have been heavily criticized for their brutal intervention and mistreatment of protesters, particularly in Paris.

Government officials, including spokesperson Olivier Veran, voice support for law enforcement and blame the protesters for being violent.

- Pension reform la​​w​​​​​

President Emmanuel Macron signed the pension reform into law late on April 14 after the Constitutional Council completed its review, despite demands from trade unions to drop the measure that has triggered weeks of protests.

The law will raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, requiring at least 43 years of service to be eligible for a full pension.

The government unveiled the proposal in January and it was taken up for a parliamentary debate the following month even as millions took to the streets to oppose it.

Unrest intensified when Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, after consulting with Macron, decided to use special constitutional powers to adopt the bill without parliamentary approval in March.

The decision was motivated by concerns that lawmakers would be able to stymie the reforms because the government lacked an absolute majority in parliament.

The law is set to go into effect on Sept. 1.