French police face probe over tear gas at climate protests
Louisa Wright
July 1, 2019
The French interior minister has ordered an investigation into why police used tear gas on climate protesters. A widely shared video shows protesters being sprayed with tear gas after refusing to move from the bridge.
Image: Reuters/C. Platiau
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Police in France faced criticism on Monday after a video of officers spraying tear gas on climate protesters staging a sit-in on a bridge emerged online, prompting the French interior minister to call for an investigation.
The protest over the French government's environment policies was held by members of the Extinction Rebellion group at the Pont de Sully bridge during sweltering heat on Friday.
A video shared on Twitter and since widely broadcast on news channels shows a group of protesters sitting on the ground with their arms linked and heads bowed after they had refused orders to vacate the bridge.
When they refuse to move, officers spray them with hand-held tear gas canisters, while the demonstrators try to protect their faces. The video shows one officer forcibly remove a protester's protective goggles and sunglasses.
The officers are then seen dragging the protesters off the street one by one.
A police officer at the scene estimated about 90 protesters had taken part, while Extinction Rebellion put the number at 200, the Guardian reported.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner ordered an investigation into the incident.
The riot police and the police chief have been asked to submit a report on the "modalities" leading up to the evacuation of the demonstrators "in order to restore traffic" in the center of Paris.
Castaner said that the French riot police used loudspeakers to ask the protesters to move. He added that the "very radical" demonstrators refused the order, and the riot police had no choice but to remove them one by one.
The Extinction Rebellion protesters were sprayed with tear gas and dragged away from the Pont de Sully bridgeImage: Reuters/C. Platiau
France's Environment Minister Francois de Rugy told Radio France International (RFI) that he had watched a video of the incident and the use of tear gas was justified.
Barbara Pompili, a member of the ruling La Republique en Marche, said she was "shocked" by the images and hoped the investigation would "shed light on what happened," RFI reported.
The Paris police department said the officers had intervened to stop the protesters from blocking traffic and that the demonstrators had been ordered "several times" to move. It said two people were arrested.
The video received condemnation both in France and abroad, with Sweden's teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeting a link to the video with the words: "Watch this video and ask yourself; who is defending who?"
The Extinction Rebellion group first launched in Britain and organizes acts of civil disobedience to draw attention to climate issues.
Last month, the group took part in the blockade of an open-pit coal mine in Germany and protests held in London in May brought parts of the British capital to a standstill.
Environmental activists in London and other cities have said they are ready to shift from disruption to dialogue. A look back at a week of loud and creative protests that brought parts of the UK capital to a standstill.
Image: Reuters/S. Dawson
Save Mother Earth!
Beginning April 15, protesters with Extinction Rebellion took to the streets of London and other cities to demand governments declare a climate and ecological emergency. They occupied key spots in the city, calling on those in charge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025, halt biodiversity loss and set up citizens' assemblies on climate and ecological justice.
Image: Reuters/P. Nicholls
Creative protests
Extinction Rebellion, founded last year by academics in the United Kingdom, is one of the world's fastest-growing environmental movements. Their aim is to protest climate change inaction in a creative and nonviolent way. Demonstrators say people are causing their own mass extinction, which is the basis of their "rebellion."
Image: Reuters/P. Nicholls
Royal support?
Harry and Meghan, the duke and duchess of Sussex, didn't exactly take part in the sit-in on London's Waterloo Bridge on April 18. The royals are expecting and protesters used the happy event in their demonstration, having the couple "thank" Extinction Rebellion for saving their child's future.
Image: Reuters/P. Nicholls
Stuck to the train
Activists have used a variety of unusual protest methods to draw maximum attention and get their point across. Throughout the week, they've blocked traffic, climbed atop buses and superglued themselves to buildings and, in the case of this young man at London's Canary Wharf station on April 17, trains.
Image: Reuters/H. Nicholls
Civil disobedience
The goal of the protests is to temporarily disrupt everyday life. As a result, police have arrested more than 800 people in London alone. Activists want to get the public on their side, but a YouGov survey showed that just 36% of more than 3,500 British polled support the protest, with 52% against.
Image: Reuters/H. Nicholls
Naked truth
Extinction Rebellion protesters first attracted global attention on April 1, during yet another heated Brexit debate in the British Parliament. A group of semi-naked activists revealed themselves in the visitor gallery with slogans including "SOS" and "Stop Wasting Time" written on their bodies, with some gluing their hands to a glass barrier. The scene was quickly broken up my security.
Image: Reuters/EXTINCTION REBELLION
Global movement
The Extinction Rebellion protests got their start in London, but the movement has also spread to other major cities around the world. On April 15, these activists on the Oberbaum Bridge in Berlin blocked traffic for hours.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Soeder
Switching tactics?
On April 21, organizers in London said they were willing to switch tactics and talk with the government. "We're giving them an opportunity now to come and speak to us," said spokesman James Fox. "If they refuse … then this is going to continue and this going to escalate in different, diverse and very creative ways."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/NurPhoto/R. Pope
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