French police drone (illustration)
©Global Look Press/Keystone Press Agency
In Paris and other major cities in France, the police are going to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on May 1 to prevent possible unrest during demonstrations. Le Monde writes about this on April 30.
More than 300 protests are planned throughout France on May 1, in which, according to authorities, up to 600 thousand French people can take part. About 100,000 people can take to the streets of Paris alone. Trade unions, in turn, expect that up to 1.5 million people can become participants in demonstrations on this day.
By information newspapers, in Paris, the police will have at their disposal three cameras mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles. It is assumed that they will help the police to maintain order and prevent attacks on citizens and property. The video from these cameras will be transmitted to the control center, where it will be stored for a week and after that the recordings will be deleted unless they become the subject of an investigation. Law enforcement officers are also going to use cameras on UAVs in Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux.
Liberation newspaper notesthat human rights activists went to court because of the UAV. They believe that the shooting, which will be carried out by drones, violates privacy. The court in Lyon rejected the claim of human rights activists. The Parisian court will have to make a decision on Monday.
The draft pension reform was presented in January 2023. Immediately after this, mass protests began throughout France. On April 14, the country’s Constitutional Council approved a key article of the pension reform bill, which calls for raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030. On the night of April 15, the French leader signed the law.
