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

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.

Yes/No

[Anonymous Coward]

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