The LDH condemns the government’s “authoritarian turn” and “disdain” for parliamentary and social democracy.

The French League for Human Rights (LDH) on Thursday condemned the government’s “authoritarian turn” and “disdain” for parliamentary and social democracy in France, which now extends to fundamental rights.

Protecting freedoms has become “the hot topic of the moment” in France, while the freedom to demonstrate is being called into question by tightening instructions given to the police and gendarmerie, including non-violent citizens. Serious injuries, mutilations and being turned into a toxic tool of the police force, Patrick Baudouin, president of the LDH and its leaders and honorary president, wrote in a joint opinion piece published in the daily Le Monde.

“We are seeing the return of charges by mobile forces on motorcycles, banned since the death of Malik Osekin in 1986, and the use of weapons that no other European police have used in such cases. In Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), several demonstrators were injured, including two in mortal danger, rescued late”, they condemned, a few days after the Human Rights Council reminded France of the directive regarding the humanitarian situation in the country. , specifically pointing to attacks on immigrants, racial profiling, police violence and the use of excessive force by authorities during demonstrations.

In Paris, demonstrations were banned at the last minute, and administrative justice very wisely disapproved of the police prefect, allowing the editors of the Tribune to continue, accusing the government of “attacking” the organizers.

The now formal practice of “preventive” arrests has prevented hundreds of citizens from demonstrating who apparently have not been prosecuted, the tribunal notes, especially since 2021 freedom of association has been put under the same token. The order on the “alleged contract” of the Republican Party aims to suffocate independent and important associations, many of which are already subject to presidential intimidation.

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He argued that “the recent law will use the opportunity of the Olympics to introduce the surveillance of millions of people to increase the systematic monitoring of the population” to continue what every event seems conducive to this government to strengthen a security apparatus. Drones and so-called “intelligent” cameras “abnormal behavior”.

Leaders of the LDH are wary that the rights of foreigners, including the right to asylum, will again be restricted by a set of laws that appear to have already been decided by the President of the Republic.

“And, as always, the hunt for foreigners undermines everyone’s rights. If only this government had existed, all the French children in Syria would have continued to languish in camps. LDH was at the forefront of the humanitarian struggle to send them back, and it is not yet complete. Today, the administration is using these same children + for detention + a He is coming to file and assume the kind of terrorist lineage. On that side, alas, nothing has changed “, underlines the editors of the Tribune.

They believe that the enforcement of private parliamentary majority rule, rejected by the majority of citizens and contested by all trade union organizations in this country, has created an unprecedented obstacle to the political agenda of a “republican monarch”. A deep democratic crisis affects both the actual functioning of the republic’s institutions, social dialogue, and trust in those who represent and have a duty to respect citizens.

“With this authoritarian turn, everything is going as if the current power thought it could break its political deadlock by trying to get a new majority without shores on the right at any cost”, “Attack on LDH is a good tactic in this context. Worse if the citizens who were asked to vote against the far right are deceived ( …) Too bad if they suffer a reversal of the rights they thought they were preventing. Too bad if all this leads to worse”.

“On the contrary, we call on all citizens and organizations committed to respecting the rule of law, to mobilize in the face of governments, which have lost more than the cold: the sense of their responsibilities”, the group concludes.

With MAP