French President Emmanuel Macron passes controversial law on French anti-riot bill

Paris:

French President Emmanuel Macron has enacted a law giving more power to security forces during protests that opponents claim to violate civil liberties, the official newspaper said Thursday.

The bill, which was approved by lawmakers in February, aims to quell the violence that tainted the protest movement "yellow vest", which shakes France since its outbreak in November.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner described the law as "a text that protects the French against insecurity and violence".

"It's a text that protects our institutions and our freedoms," he wrote on Twitter.

But in a revealing gesture of political unrest caused to Macron by the movement of the "yellow vest", the French Constitutional Council, its highest constitutional authority, refused this month to give the green light to one of the parties the most controversial of the legislation.

This would have given the authorities the power to ban demonstrations any individual "constituting a particularly serious threat to public order".

This article was accompanied by a file containing names of people wanted by the police, which critics strongly denounced as constituting a violation of the freedom of badembly of citizens, protected by the constitution.

However, the council approved two other key elements of legislation, including giving authorities the power to search bags and cars around and at demonstrations at the request of a prosecutor.

He also approved concealing the face during a demonstration, punishable by one year's imprisonment and a fine of 15,000 euros ($ 17,000).

The French Minister for relations with Parliament, Marc Fesneau, said Wednesday that the government did not intend to return to Parliament to adapt the bill to new debates.

The protests of the yellow jacket against social inequality have been Macron's biggest challenge since coming to power, dramatically reducing the momentum of his reformist agenda.

Since then, he has sought to respond by traveling through France at meetings at the town hall to listen to the grievances expressed by badysts during a campaign considered a qualified success.

Macron is expected to address the nation in the coming days with new measures to appease the anger of protesters, particularly against what Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Monday called a "huge exasperation" in terms taxes.

The official journal is the official journal of France and the appearance of the legislation in the publication means that it was promulgated.

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