Demonstration Against Racism, Police Brutality Underway In Paris

Several thousand people are rallying against police violence and racism in the French capital, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2021) Several thousand people are rallying against police violence and racism in the French capital, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.

Participants chant "there is no justice" and carry posters against police violence. Some of them are wearing yellow vests, a symbol of the 2018 protest movement that swept France in response to fuel tax hikes and later grew into a wave of riots against the government of President Emmanuel Macron.

The rally comprising up to 6,000 people kicked off from the Luxembourg Garden, passed through the Place Saint-Michel, Boulevard Saint-Germain, Boulevard Henri IV, and at about 16.00 (15:00 GMT) approached the Place de la Bastille, which is the final point of the route.

The demonstrators also protest against the so-called global security law, an initiative seeking to criminalize the distribution of materials containing images of law enforcement officers. Related mass riots against the bill were held across France starting November 2020, when the bill sailed through the first reading in the parliament's lower house. They were marked by numerous detentions, arrests, and scenes of violent clashes between the police and demonstrators.

Notably, the country's upper parliamentary house began debates on the legislation on March 3.

In this regard, significant units of police forces are deployed to observe the demonstration, which has so far been peaceful.