The international human rights NGO Amnesty International on Tuesday declared a “rule-of-law alert” in France over “authoritarian practices” amid mass protests marked by violence and allegations of police brutality, AFP reports.
“As in other democratic countries, authoritarian practices have emerged in our country in recent years,” Amnesty International France—the organisation’s French branch—stated in a press release recalling the turning point marked by the declaration of a state of emergency in 2015, following the November 13 attacks in Paris and its suburbs.
Amnesty identifies seven signs of a shift towards authoritarian practices observed in several countries, and now in France as well: inventing an enemy, weaponising technology, ruling through fear, attacking the press, exploiting injustices and eliminating opponents of those in power.
As for dissent, the organization criticizes the “administrative dissolution, whether carried out or announced,” of associations and movements such as Urgence Palestine (Palestine Emergency) and the environmental movement Soulèvements de la Terre (Earth Uprisings), as well as bans on certain demonstrations.
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