UN experts sound alarm at excessive use of force in French student protests

What the report says

UN human rights experts have criticised France over what they described as excessive force used by police during recent student protests, according to Al Jazeera. In a statement reported on Wednesday, the experts said the scale of arrests and detentions, which they said affected several thousand people and were mainly minors, appeared disproportionate and could discourage people from taking part in peaceful assembly and expression.

Al Jazeera reported that the protests have continued nationwide since mid-September, first over conditions in high schools and later over broader anger about the cost of living. The unrest has at times included rioting and looting. France’s Interior Ministry said that 70,000 security personnel were deployed and 1,000 people were arrested during demonstrations on Saturday, when it said 410,000 people protested across the country. The report also said 2,700 people were arrested the previous week after vandalism and looting.

The UN experts named in the statement included Gina Romero, the special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly, and Farida Shaheed, the expert on cultural rights. They said French authorities had put too much emphasis on security and had not sufficiently addressed the underlying causes of the mobilisation. The article noted that the experts have urged France before to review policing practices.

The report also highlighted a serious injury in Lille, where a teenager lost a hand during a clash involving a police grenade. That case was cited by the experts as an example of the potentially irreversible harm facing underage protesters. The statement said the experts are in contact with French authorities.