the Defender of Rights has been contacted 115 times since the start of the mobilization

Worrying complaints. The Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon, said on Monday April 17 that she had been seized 115 times since the start of the mobilization against the pension reform. “The testimonies and images that reach us suggest that rights have been violated”commented the one responsible for exercising independent and external control over the police.

“Respect for the freedom to demonstrate and the freedom of association must absolutely be respected, I am frankly concerned in this regard about a climate which contributes to weakening the democratic edifice”, she continued. Several demonstrators have filed a complaint in France for having been seriously injured by the police, since the start of the mobilization against the pension reform, which began on January 19. The behavior of agents of the BRAV-M, these controversial mobile units, was particularly singled out over the demonstrations.

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Claire Hédon specifies, however, that the decisions on these referrals will only be made after “impartial and contradictory investigations”. Investigations into the individual behavior of police officers and gendarmes, but also into “the supervision, hierarchy and also the training of these people” will be carried out, she assured.

In a press release dated April 14, the Defender of Rights had also condemned the “disturbing stigma” of the League of Human Rights “by public authorities”after the association denounced cases of police violence and a “alarming situation for democracy”. Through the reports received, the independent authority states that it observes “an intensification of the risks of attacks on freedom of association”, qualifying this phenomenon as“highly problematic in a democratic state”.