France Using Emergency Powers To Prevent Climate Change Protests (theguardian.com)

Bruce66423 writes: Following the Paris massacre, the French government declared a state of emergency. One of the regulations this introduced was control of large scale gatherings, and one of the events that is being caught up in this is planned protests to do with the Climate Change conference in Paris next month. This has resulted in some activists being put under house arrest — yet other gathering, such as commercial street markets — are being allowed to go ahead. Funny that; anyone would think that the government is using the opportunity to suppress dissent.

Comments

"using the opportunity to suppress dissent."

[Nutria]

Is the French government a known climate denier?

Or are they suppressing mass demonstrations for other reasons?

Re:"using the opportunity to suppress dissent."

[dfenstrate]

Is the French government a known climate denier?

Or are they suppressing mass demonstrations for other reasons?

Have you considered using the word 'heretic' instead of 'denier'?

Re:"using the opportunity to suppress dissent."

[AchilleTalon]

And is this going to work? No. Nobody gives a fuck about protesters, but protesters themselves.

Hypocrite

[Barny]

They are just joining in on the fun, America, UK, Australia have all been abusing legislature regarding terrorists for many many years now. France will not be denied their piece of the totalitarian pie.

This is how it begins

[whoever57]

Find a suitable reason to declare a state of emergency. Use the state of emergency to suppress legitimate protests. An event that outrages people used to remove civil liberties and the opportunity for dissent.

Where have we seen this before? In every country that became a dictatorship.

Re:This is how it begins

[hcs_$reboot]

Don't underestimate the impact of the 2-weeks-ago-yet-fresh-massacre though. So, this time the protests are suppressed, and in a year from now they will be authorized again. Do you really think France, and especially the French, would accept a "state of emergency" lasting years? No. Moreover there are presidential elections in less than two years, and the party abusing the current situation more than necessary would be decimated by the voters. The French are really attached to freedom.

Re:This is how it begins

[c]

Do you really think France, and especially the French, would accept a "state of emergency" lasting years?

I wouldn't have expected the average American to tolerate minimum wage thugs groping children and elderly without effective results for years, either... but apparently, the terrorists won that round.

Yes/No

[Anonymous Coward]

//// Football matches: "Yes: Life must go on" ///// Climate change protests: "No - It's a security risk"

Re:Yes/No

[Mashiki]

Considering the security measures required to get into a stadium in france vs a group of protesters and someone wandering up with a suicide vest strapped to them. Well, there does appear to be a security risk to general people. Those protests would be a splody-dopes dream.

Why does gov't care about climate change protest?

[drnb]

Find a suitable reason to declare a state of emergency. Use the state of emergency to suppress legitimate protests. An event that outrages people used to remove civil liberties and the opportunity for dissent. Where have we seen this before? In every country that became a dictatorship.

Right, so the French government that recognizes climate change and agrees it is a major issue to be dealt with is afraid of protesters who recognize climate change and believe it is a major issue to be dealt with?

Re:Why does gov't care about climate change protes

[drnb]

Right, so the French government that recognizes climate change and agrees it is a major issue to be dealt with is afraid of protesters who recognize climate change and believe it is a major issue to be dealt with?

Perhaps it has more to do with getting the populace used to suppression of dissent?

What dissent? The protesters and the government agree.

Re:Why does gov't care about climate change protes

[Uberbah]

Right, so the French government that recognizes climate change and agrees it is a major issue to be dealt with

Does it really agree, or is it just throwing around two-faced platitudes it has no intention of honoring? Like Obama when he vowed to renegotiate NAFTA, or Hillary now being against the TPP after she spent years drafting it as SOS.

zealots ^2

[harvey the nerd]

The French govt probably doesn't want events that provoke large crowds with angry people that might have zealots with conflicting views. Imagine: Angry CAGW zealots meet climate realists/"deniers" with normal angry puke and threats. Islamic terrorists decide the cover and distraction is perfect for a bigger score, sending more infidels to burn before police even realize the attack.

Re:The American Way

[hcs_$reboot]

About 1 in 100 people in the crowd has a concealed weapon

List of mass shootings, just for the 2010s, just schools... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States#2010s. Solution is not that simple, and this is not because you want to carry a gun that you have to let a whole population, that includes a lot of irresponsible people, use a gun as well. What happened in France is exceptional, and you seize the opportunity of an exceptional event to promote your own ideas. This is typically what do extreme parties (esp. right side), and what did parties before WWII. They catch an exceptional event to sell their own narrow minded stinky politcs.

Read the news, CO2 emissions flat

[SuperKendall]

2014 saw no rise in CO2 emissions.

Of course, since years of rapid CO2 rise with no corresponding temperature increases (including historical records as far back as we can look) have shown clearly CO2 is not a factor in climate change, that doesn't matter much...