Why France’s proposed police firearms bill has triggered nationwide protests

France saw nationwide protests on Sunday against draft legislation that would give police officers and gendarmes a presumption of self-defence when they use firearms in the line of duty.

Opponents say the measure would amount to a “licence to kill”. The proposal comes amid mounting concern over police brutality in recent years, particularly against immigrant communities in the banlieues — outlying suburbs — of Paris and other major cities.

Where are protests taking place, and what is being contested?

Thousands of people marched across France over the weekend against the proposal, which would grant armed police officers and gendarmes a presumption of self-defence when they deploy their weapons while performing their duties.

An officer involved in a fatal shooting would therefore be presumed to have acted lawfully unless evidence showed otherwise. People alleging police brutality would face the burden of proving that self-defence did not apply.

A petition filed on the National Assembly website by Issam El Khalfaoui, whose son was shot dead by a police officer in 2021, drew 730,000 signatures earlier this year. A parliamentary law committee rejected it in July.

Thousands marched in Paris, while demonstrations were also held across the country. Police said roughly 8,200 people protested in the southern cities of Lyon and Toulouse alone.

Protests also took place in Marseille in southern France and Rennes in the northwest, where officials said eight people were arrested and three police officers injured after demonstrators threw projectiles at them.

Left-wing politicians joined the demonstrations alongside rights groups, including Amnesty International, France’s magistrates’ union and the French League of Human Rights.

What would the proposed police law do?

Draft bill 691 would create a presumption of legitimate self-defence for law enforcement officials who use firearms in the line of duty.

In practice, an officer who killed someone in a shooting would be presumed to have acted within the law unless evidence proved otherwise.

The proposal states that the presumption of self-defence “may be rebutted if the judicial investigation demonstrates that the use of weapons was manifestly disproportionate or contrary to the principle of absolute necessity established by law”.

Deputies in the National Assembly approved the bill in July. It must now be voted on by the Senate, the upper house of the French parliament.

Why is the legislation being proposed?

The legislation reflects a longstanding demand of the far-right National Rally party. It was introduced by Member of Parliament Eric Pauget of the right-wing Les Republicains party.

Supporters, including French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, argue that the measure is needed to protect police officers working in dangerous conditions, particularly during operations against organised crime.

How have politicians and rights groups responded?

Nunez told the French parliament in July that the proposal would not grant police criminal immunity and that prosecutors could overturn the presumption whenever the legal conditions were met.

Critics, however, say it would effectively give officers a “licence to kill”.

Mathilde Panot, president of the left-wing France Unbowed party, condemned the bill, saying: “The police kill already.”

Addressing protesters in Paris on Sunday, she added: “In the Republic there can be no organised police impunity. In the Republic, there cannot be a category of citizens who have the right of life or death over other citizens.”

Left-wing lawmaker Pouria Amirshahi, who represents French residents overseas, also criticised the proposal.

“There will be more deaths – if you authorise someone to use their firearm with the idea that they won’t be accountable, then they will just shoot,” Amirshahi said. “This law grants police impunity.”

Cedric Picard of Amnesty International, who joined the protest in Marseille, said: “We are afraid police violence would only grow with this law.”

Why has the proposal drawn international criticism?

The United Nations has condemned the bill, warning that it could “legitimise and normalise” violence against civilians.

“The duty to investigate every potentially unlawful killing rests with the State,” said Morris Tidball-Binz, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

“It cannot be displaced, in law or in practice, by requiring victims or their families to rebut a legal presumption that the use of potentially lethal force was lawful before the facts have been independently established.”

Tidball-Binz said adoption of the legislation would violate Principle 9 of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, which places strict limits on lethal force.

Marie-Laure Geoffray of Amnesty International also warned that the measure would slow investigations into police violence by placing the burden of proof on victims or their families rather than on law enforcement.

Critics have cautioned that the law could lead to more fatal police shootings and seriously undermine public trust in the police.

Do other countries have similar laws?

Pauget has pointed to Italy’s anti-protest law as a comparable measure.

Introduced by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and adopted in June 2025, the law established harsher penalties for protest-related offences, including property damage and disruptive sit-ins, while giving law enforcement broader powers.

It also allowed intelligence agents to commit certain acts classified as crimes for national security purposes without facing prosecution.

The Italian law prompted widespread demonstrations, with human rights groups accusing the government of criminalising dissent, restricting civil liberties and limiting the right to protest.

When has France’s police faced brutality allegations?

France’s government has faced sustained pressure from activists and the public over repeated allegations of police violence and harassment, particularly against Black and Arab men and boys in the suburbs of Paris and other major cities.

The number of fatal police shootings in France remains among the highest in Europe and continues to rise.

The IGPN and IGGN, the bodies responsible for investigating police misconduct, recorded 69 people killed by police or gendarmerie officers in 2024, compared with 49 in 2023 and 50 in 2022.

Some of the most prominent cases from the past decade include:

• In June 2023, Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old of Moroccan and Algerian descent, was shot dead by police in Nanterre, west of Paris, while sitting behind the wheel of a rental car. His death prompted nationwide protests against police violence. Police initially said Nahel had driven his vehicle at an officer, but mobile phone footage contradicted that account, showing two officers beside a stationary car and one aiming a weapon at the driver. In March, a French appeals court ruled that Florian M, the officer who shot and killed the teenager, should stand trial for violence resulting in death.
• In August 2021, Souheil El Khalfaoui, a 19-year-old man of North African descent, was shot and killed by a trainee police officer during a traffic stop in the Belle de Mai neighbourhood of Marseille. Authorities initially described the shooting as an act of “absolute necessity”, saying Souheil had reversed his car towards police. The case was later reopened after his family appealed over withheld CCTV evidence. Protests intensified after Romain Devassine, the officer involved in the shooting, appeared as a BMX rider during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. The investigation into El Khalfaoui’s death remains ongoing, and Devassine has not been formally indicted, arrested or suspended from duty.
• In July 2016, Adama Traore, a 24-year-old man of Malian descent, died after being restrained and detained by police following a dispute over an identity check. His death sparked nationwide protests against police brutality. Demonstrations surged again in 2020 despite COVID-related restrictions, with protesters drawing parallels to the killing of George Floyd in the United States. That year, French medical experts cleared the three officers involved and rejected a report commissioned by Traore’s family that concluded he had died from asphyxiation. Earlier this year, France’s highest court refused to reopen the investigation, upholding an earlier decision to dismiss the case against the arresting officers.

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