Journalist: French police are more violent during anti-government protests

Police violence against protesters is more common during anti-government demonstrations in France, Umit Donmez, an employee of the Paris representative office of Turkiye's Anadolu Agency, told Report.

He emphasized that the French police show double standards regarding protests. Donmez said that the security guards of this country did not prevent provocations during the protest of the PKK terrorist group supporters in Paris on January 19 and just watched them.

"I have followed many protests during my journalistic career. Based on my observations, I can say that the French police often don't show patience with protesters. At the same time, I have seen a lot of different approaches to demonstrations. For example, during the action of the PKK supporters, the protestors committed many provocations. Despite this, the police did not take any action against the perpetrators of violence, and they just watched on."

According to him, the same thing happened during the protest rally held on December 23-24 last year. Donmez noted that the leadership of the French law enforcement agencies had deployed very few policemen to the area where the protest was held: "There were very few policemen in the area. The supporters of the PKK resorted to acts of provocation, cursing insults, breaking the windows of shops, and shooting bullets. The police did not interfere. They started to react only after half an hour. In the end, they were forced to deploy an additional police force. After that, they were able to control the situation."

Donmez said that last week, citizens protested against the French government's pension reform, and police used batons against the demonstrators: "By the end of the demonstration, only a handful of people were violent. Despite this, the police used force against everyone. People protested against the government's changes in the pension system. The French police showed great impatience and resorted to violence against the protesters. However, people used their rights to peacefully protest against the increase in the retirement age.”