Right off the bat (though I am no baseball player myself but do love watching the game) let me just say that France is a country I absolutely love/admire and I’m quite supportive of its existing leadership; that’s unlikely to change any time soon. However watching the disgusting video clip of French policy officers beating the hell of a black music producer is something I did not expect to see in this country. There are certainly bad peaches everywhere in the world when it comes to police brutality and taking prompt action in suspending the officers is certainly quite reassuring and 1 step in the right direction. What is NOT reassuring though is the new called Loi Sécurité Globale which attempts to restrict filming/dissemination of clips/images of police officers in action. This is not a law I would expect in any transitional Democracy let alone a well established one and can only translate to vulnerabilities in the policing system and demonstrates insecurity of revealing them; if you’ve got nothing to hide…. as the saying goes. The idea of treating filming as some kind of public conspiracy against the police force is very wrong and can only be accepted as so in 3rd world countries controlled by unscrupulous dictators; what it actually is for the most part is ensuring that no one is above the law and being transparent about it. In other words it does not undermine the reputation of the police force but rather ensures that the reputation holds up under public scrutiny; nothing more/nothing less. If on the other hand there is any merit to this decision at the very least make an effort to engage the public and gain their support before using brute force to impose it and if you fail they should prevail because you are after all elected representatives not extraterrestrial beings dropped onto this planet from an advanced alien civilization in outer space (in which case you need to go through immigration queue first before being admitted to the country – not unlike us the happy go unlucky Brexit civilization awaiting the big bang before we drop from the sky like a ginormous asteroid in flames) – this should be the approach on all controversial decisions…if you’re lucky.
So as a non Frenchman who adores France I hope that this new law is reconsidered so we can all go back and enjoy the bare minimum left for us to enjoy in these weird pandemic times we live in; the delicious baguette/cheese and croissant et café s’il vous plaît no one’s in the mood for more restrictions, merci beaucoup!