to france now where the government has
proposed a sweeping new security bill
following a series of recent terror
attacks among other things the
new law would make it a criminal offence
to publish
images of police officers with intent to
cause them harm
it sparked an outcry among journalist
unions and free speech campaigners
sonia fanika reports from paris
french documentary the monopoly of
violence is a hard-hitting examination
of police brutality in france
released earlier this year the film
focuses on the yellow west protests
as well as allegations of police abuse
in the suburbs
filmmaker david dufren relied on footage
provided by journalists
as well as ordinary citizens posting on
social media
but making a film like this may not be
possible in future with the french
government proposing a new security law
part of which cracks down on the
broadcast and sharing of images of
police officers
different says the law erodes basic
freedoms
and puts france on a slippery slope save
your laws
police violence has existed in france
for decades especially in the suburbs
today it's well documented it's filmed
social media allows for the easy
broadcasting of these videos
what lawmakers want to do is stop the
circulation of these images
and at that point you're not in a
democracy anymore
the french parliament has been debating
the controversial law
one of its provisions stipulates jail
time and a fine of more than fifty
thousand dollars for anyone
broadcasting or sharing identifiable
images of police officers
with the intention of harming them
[Applause]
it sparked large demonstrations here in
paris
as well as in several other french
cities journalists unions and rights
groups are up in the arms saying that
recording officers in action
is essential to being able to condemn
and curb the actions
of violent officers many believe the law
which applies to both journalists and
citizens
will lead to a sense of impunity of
police add demonstrations
that often turn violent i know friends
who are really scared to go to
demonstrations because of the violence
the rubber bullets
and the tear gas used by police and the
one thing that protects us
is taking a video the law wants to
protect police officers so that they can
hit people without consequences
journalists have been hit and injured by
police especially in the last couple of
years
and until now the police version of
events could be questioned
thanks to images and videos
campaigners here fear that the new
security law could have a chilling
effect on press freedom
they say that if citizens and
journalists are dissuaded from filming
the police
it may make it harder to hold certain
officers to account
the french government however says the
law is necessary to protect police
officers
in the line of duty the country's
largest police union which had been
pushing for the law
agrees with government david olivier
revedi
says indiscriminate posting of images of
officers
especially on social media has led to a
dangerous backlash
today several of our colleagues are
victims of harassment
they or their families are threatened in
certain low-income neighborhoods you'd
even find walls with the names of police
officers
saying that their daughter or their wife
would be raped it's completely
unacceptable
the new law can protect and put a stop
to this
recent terror attacks and growing unrest
are protests have prompted the french
government to take a harder line on
security
but the proposed law is only expected to
deepen divisions
and fan further mistrust between the
police and the public
ltw sonia falakka filed this report and
is joining us now from paris
sonia why is this law being proposed
right now
well i think uh the current atmosphere
in france uh certainly plays a role you
know the recent terror attacks
uh growing unrest demonstrations all
that has certainly prompted the
government to take a tougher line
um on security but there are also
commentators here who say you know
domestic politics also plays a role
they say you know president macron's
toughest stance in security is an
attempt to appeal to voters on the right
ahead of the next presidential election
which takes place less than a year and a
half away
but i think more broadly the french
government has defended this bill and
said that
you know restrictions and images on uh
of police officers are necessary in
order to protect officers as well as
their families
uh from being targeted in online
campaigns
well just to make this clear this bill
would make it a crime to circulate an
image of a police officer
with the intention that they be harmed
but who decides
if the intention was to harm someone
well again that that is exactly the
problem you know rights groups here and
that includes france's own human rights
watchdog have said that this particular
clause in the bill article 24
uh that you mentioned this is very very
problematic because it's vague it's open
to interpretation and very difficult to
prove because the question is really
how courts would determine whether you
know images were posted
with the with the um intent to cause
harm so i think this is problematic and
there are fears that this could be uh
you know open to abuse and ultimately
this may make it harder for journalists
to cover protests and demonstrations
but to be clear i mean this is not only
about journalists you know the bill
applies to citizens too and there are
experts here in france
who say that you know video footage
which is very often filmed by passers-by
and and posted on social media before
the mainstream media reports on it
as has also led in the past to to cases
of police brutality coming to the fore
and there are concerns here that this uh
may not be possible anymore once
the new law is passed well mps are
scheduled to vote
on this bill as a whole on tuesday it
will then go to the senate that's
frank's upper house
what can we expect will it pass
well um you know last week we saw very
heated debate in the french parliament
of this bill there were lawmakers who
were divided on it
um especially mps from you know left and
centrist parties
who were really concerned about the
impact of this particular clause on
press freedom but that article was
eventually approved
after a statement was added that it
would guarantee um
you know kind of the right to inform but
i think all this has not been really
enough to to ease the concerns of
campaigners here and i think
we are likely to see you know further
protests against this proposed
legislation
in paris as well as in other french
cities
dw sol sonia farnika reporting from
paris thank you sonia thank you
you