The French government has used disproportionate force against demonstrators protesting the pension reform, in violation of their freedom of assembly and expression, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic said on Friday. Mijatovic described the circumstances of the pension protests as “concerning,” adding that “sporadic acts of violence …
Read More »France protests said to be ‘out of control’
French authorities struggled on Thursday to suppress the protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform. Over a million demonstrators took to the streets across the country in what some security sources described as an “insurrection” against the government in Paris. Tens of thousands of workers went on strike and protesters …
Read More »Anti-NATO protests hit France
Multiple mass protests against France’s NATO membership and its continued support of Kiev were held on Sunday in the capital Paris and at other locations across the country. he demonstrations, taking place for the second consecutive weekend, were organized by the right-wing Les Patriotes party, led by Florian Philippot, who …
Read More »RT France to close after accounts frozen
RT’s French subsidiary will cease broadcasting after its accounts were frozen by the French treasury, its director, Xenia Fedorova, announced on Saturday. Paris claimed that it froze the funds in line with EU sanctions, which targeted RT’s parent company. “After five years of harassment, the authorities in power have achieved …
Read More »France promises old ‘light tanks’ for Ukraine
Paris will transfer its domestically-made AMX-10 ‘light tanks’ to Ukraine, becoming the first NATO member to send Kiev non-Soviet armor, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday. News of the transfer was broken by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who wrote on Twitter that he had “a long and detailed conversation” with …
Read More »France is not at war, but from Macron’s rhetoric you would think otherwise
Earlier this summer, French President Emmanuel Macron evoked the country’s “entry into a war economy in which I believe we will organize ourselves in the long term.” It would have sounded familiar to anyone who paid attention during the Covid-19 pandemic. Announcing the first Covid lockdowns in March 2020, Macron …
Read More »France opposes Spain’s gas pipeline project – media
A major gas pipeline project advocated by Madrid and Berlin has faced resistance from Paris, El Pais and several other Spanish news outlets reported this week, citing a letter by the French Ministry of Energy Transition. Spain imports natural gas from Algeria through two undersea pipelines – the Maghreb-Europe and …
Read More »France’s largest wildfire might be ‘act of arson’
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday he strongly suspected the forest fire that flared up in the department of Gironde may have been restarted by arsonists. More than 6,200 hectares have burned down so far this week, the major highway leading to Bordeaux has been shut down, and …
Read More »France to nationalize country’s biggest power provider
France has announced a takeover bid to gain full control of the country’s largest utility, EDF. The government has made an offer of €9.7 billion ($9.9 billion) to nationalize electricity provider EDF, the country’s Ministry of Economy and Finance said on Tuesday. The state already owns 84% of the company’s …
Read More »Inflation in France highest in decades
Consumer prices in France have reached their highest rate in over three decades, data from the state statistics agency INSEE showed on Wednesday. According to the report, inflation in the country increased by 0.9% in June from the month before, driving annual inflation to 6.5%, its highest level since 1991. …
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