French politicians have approved controversial measures to ban what the government calls “brute” troublemakers from street demonstrations as gilets jaunes (yellow vests) anti-government protests enter their 12th week. Deputies on the left and some on the centre said the measures posed an “authoritarian” threat to civil liberties. Any person presumed to have been involved in violence in previous demonstrations can be banned from street protests, but they don’t need to have been previously convicted. Some politicians said the new law could be abused if a far-right party came to power in the future. Charles de Courson, from the centrist UDI party, told parliament the law was extremely dangerous.

Source: The Guardian January 31, 2019 13:10 UTC