French courts have been imposing disproportionately severe sentences for minor offenses, including 10 months in prison for stealing a can of Red Bull and one year for a homeless boy with schizophrenia caught looting a luxury store. The overwhelmed courts rush cases, provide minimal time for defendants, and prioritize punishment under the instruction of the Justice Minister. Furthermore, the French government is censoring social media and justifying it by claiming to protect public order, but it infringes upon free speech and mirrors tactics used by authoritarian regimes. The justice system exhibits a double standard, favoring the privileged, and creates a class divide, leading to unrest. Ironically, the government compares itself to oppressive nations while undermining democratic principles.
Heavily oriented video and summary.
Here is a “check news” from liberation, a left leaning french media (warning: it’s in french), about the guy who “just stole a redbull”: https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/violences-urbaines-un-homme-a-t-il-ete-condamne-a-dix-mois-de-prison-ferme-pour-le-vol-dune-canette-de-redbull-20230704_XDDKWZ6GXRHP3JAYZQF5R2GJP4/
Not only he had a suspended sentence, he also LOOTED the redbull from a store.
I didn’t watch the video but i’m very surprised about the censured medias thing, never heard about anything like that recently. And i should know, I live there.
So sure, journalists’ work has been increasingly harder to do the last few years, but censorship, real state censorship or “gag order” like the us does sometimes ?
That’s a line no french government would dare to cross because THAT would be the real riots. What’s happening right know would be merely skirmirshes in comparison.
The liberation article I linked even says journalists, them included, could witness the trials.
Macron is indeed talking about censoring social media to cripple these riots, but nothing have been done yet to allows this.