How French police brutality is harming the country’s international image
▻https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2019/09/how-french-police-brutality-harming-country-s-international-image
▻https://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/homesection_image/public/blogs_2019/09/gettyimages-1143033953.jpg?itok=YrTQ3C7l
Violent treatment of protesters is deterring tourists and undermining France’s reputation as the birthplace of human rights.
Despite the government’s careful presentation of France as an economically attractive country, the “birth nation of human rights” is fast losing its tourism appeal and radiance on the international stage, due in no small part to the recent deluge of images of police brutality. Paris, specifically, where police-protester confrontations have been most violent, has been damaged: tourism in the region has slowed since the start of the yellow vest movement and the city has fallen six ranks in the Economist’s 2019 Global Liveability Index, which noted: “Paris in France is the highest-ranked city to have seen a deterioration in its stability score, owing to the ongoing anti-government gilets jaunes protests that began in late 2018.”
Even the American singer Iggy Pop, who recently played in Paris, has referenced the violent escalation in French law enforcement. He told French media that he had followed “what is happening with the police” over the controversial death of Steve Maia Caniço, who drowned in Nantes in June after a police charge. “More and more, we see that political leaders refuse dialogue,” he said. Not exactly Macron-approved PR.