White House backs ‘right to peaceful demonstrations’ in France ‘as elsewhere’

Washington in support of the right to demonstrate in France? Asked about allegations of police brutality in France, a White House spokesman said Thursday that the US executive branch “supports the right to peaceful demonstrations there as elsewhere.”

“All this is just beginning to be heard,” he said in response to a question about criticism from some organizations, such as the Council of Europe.

“Sporadic acts of violence by some demonstrators or other reprehensible acts committed by others during a demonstration cannot justify the excessive use of force by state agents,” Dunja Mijatović, the organization’s human rights ombudsman, recently said.

“A form of habit to violence sets in”

The question of police reaction has also come up in the wake of the violence that took place over the weekend during mobilizations in the west of France against disputed water retention systems.

Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that thousands of demonstrators “just came to wage war.” “Some develop a habit of violence that needs to be fought with great firmness,” he said.

The Human Rights League denounced the “immoderate use” of force, and demonstration organizers in western France counted 200 injured, including one blind and two in a coma.