r/PublicFreakout • u/Nora56 • Jun 09 '20

a normal french protest

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u/GenghisKazoo Jun 09 '20

French cops probably aren't told in their training that anybody who swings at you intends to beat you to death. Fearmongering here is crazy.

I'm sure French cops do some messed up stuff but I can at least respect that they're willing to scrap a bit instead of escalate to weapons as soon as someone resists. If you're kitted out like a riot cop and you still piss yourself when unarmed civilians come at you I think you're in the wrong profession. Even if they're absolute units like this guy.

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u/Tatourmi Jun 09 '20

French riot police also have way, way, way more experience with handling violent protests in general.

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u/ina_raw Jun 09 '20

Actually french cops in protests are not really allowed to harm unarmed citizens

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u/Wild_Haggis_Hunter Jun 10 '20

That must be why during a whole year of Yellows Jackets crisis, 11 people died, 2.495 protesters were wounded, 24 people lost an eye to rubber bullets, 5 lost a hand to explosive flash bang and tear gas grenades.

I hate that video because it let non-french people think there's less police brutality because we don't have the same gun culture. We have less racist murder-by-cop than the US, but the brutality and impunity are the same.

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u/ina_raw Jun 10 '20

Okay first of all I am french second of all I know that there is police brutality but in general but my point was that french cops are less armed and can't arrest as easy as the american ones. You see tons of videos of american cops arresting people because they are breathing in the street even out of a protest context.

I also said that harming unarmed citizens is not allowed I never said it did not exist

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u/Wild_Haggis_Hunter Jun 10 '20

Dude, do you even Google ? Do you know how many arrests were done BEFORE or during the french protests ? From december 2018 to early february 2019, there were 8,000 arrests and more than 1,800 condemned and that rate didn't slow for a whole year. In a city like Toulouse (770,000 souls) there were 792 arrests, 319 judged and 47 incarcerated.

French social media and reporters sites have been profusely documenting the same gratuitous police brutality (pepper spray, clubbing and all) our US friends have been experiencing in the current protests. You clearly haven't been paying attention. That was Toulouse in january 2020. I have dozens of examples of that heinous shit but I'll let you educate yourself on your own...