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

Re:Protests?

[ClickOnThis]

My quick scan is that it's a crackdown on protests in general, not necessarily on any particular issue. Not that I'm condoning it.

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"

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:"using the opportunity to suppress dissent."

[Coolfish]

The idea that people are protesting against the French government on environmental grounds seems quite strange to me.

You probably are not aware that there will be an international meeting in Paris soon. Many governments will be represented, and the protests are an attempt to somehow sway more governments to act?

But no. Far easier to knock down strawmen. Sick of protesting crap. Yeah, democracy and free speech are so sickening, ugh! Why don't we have more countries like North Korea and China where the governments really know how to crack down on these stupid protests! /s

Re:"using the opportunity to suppress dissent."

[AchilleTalon]

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