Are French Police the Most Violent in the EU? Rights Groups and Experts Question Force's Arsenal and Tactics

Videos have been spreading across French social media in recent days, each showing something troubling. In one, police beat a man to the ground and drag him away unconscious. In another, an officer seizes a young man from behind, apparently without provocation, and pulls him along by the neck. In a third, a young woman is hauled off with her arm twisted, screaming in pain. None of the footage has been independently verified.

The clips come as a wave of protests moves across France. On Saturday, more than half a million people took to the streets, most of them peacefully. They were criticizing cuts to the public sector and the cost-of-living crisis, and backing students who want better conditions in their classrooms. Some rioters exploited the crowds, burning buildings, looting stores and throwing projectiles at police, which made the work of officers and other emergency services difficult. The weekend marches followed a series of high-school protests in which students barricaded school buildings to denounce a shortage of teachers and demand repairs to crumbling facilities. More demonstrations are planned for this weekend, and the government has said it will deploy military forces.

The human cost has fallen partly on teenagers. During the student protests of recent weeks, several suffered life-changing injuries: one had a hand blown off, one was blinded in an eye, and another had his jaw broken. The teenager who lost the eye is suspected of having been hit at close range by a rubber bullet fired from an LBD-40, the launcher French police use for that ammunition.

France has one of the most heavily armed police forces in Europe, and rights groups have renewed their criticism of its use of rubber bullets and stun grenades. Britain and Germany largely do not permit rubber bullets at protests. Spain sometimes uses them, but with fewer injuries than in France. Anastassia Tsoukala, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Paris-Sud, told DW that France is not alone in having guidelines, including a required minimum distance. But even when officers follow them, she said, people move, and someone can suddenly lose an eye. Tear gas is routine for French police, as it is for many European forces, though its use in warfare is banned under agreements such as the Chemical Weapons Convention. What sets France apart, Tsoukala said, is its stun grenades, which contain a high level of explosive substances.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez insists the weapons are non-lethal. Yet some of the equipment is classified as war material under France's own internal security code.

A police expert identified as Roche goes further. Measured by deaths among demonstrators and by cases of maiming, he says, French police are the most brutal in the European Union. He traces this to politics: authorities are free to decide what police carry. LBDs were first introduced for units such as anti-organized-crime teams, yet the same weapon is now used for crowd control, which he says shows how French politicians' thinking about handling protest has changed. He also contrasts methods. At the 2023 environmental protest in Lützerath, Germany, police used dogs, and injuries on both sides were far fewer and less serious. At Sainte-Soline, France, the same year, military police used LBDs and grenades intensively; both officers and demonstrators were seriously hurt, and two protesters were left in comas.

UN standards say force by law enforcement should be exceptional, used for preventing crime or making lawful arrests, and proportionate, meaning no more than necessary. Nunez has said in radio interviews that officers have largely respected that principle, which is also in French law. Amnesty International calls the response disproportionate and urges authorities to act on their human rights obligations. The French branch of the League of Human Rights condemns the violent repression of the high-school movement. Speaking in Marseille on Tuesday, Nunez said containing the many groups was very complicated, that police did a great job, and that many crimes were prevented. DW contacted two police unions and the Interior Ministry, but none replied before publication. Tsoukala said public order is subordinate to human life and safety, a non-negotiable value.

Oversight is another point of contention. France has no independent watchdog, only the IGPN, an internal police inspectorate, which says it has opened at least 40 cases since the latest protests began. The UK and Denmark use independent bodies. Tsoukala, however, says leniency and opacity are Europe-wide problems: officers are acquitted or receive extremely light penalties. With new protests planned and troops promised, the IGPN's cases will be an early test.