French Military Authorized To Use Deadly Force On Yellow Vests If Lives Threatened
French soldiers embedded with Paris police will be allowed to ‘open fire’ if lives are threatened by Yellow Vest rioters this weekend, reports the Daily Mail, citing the military governor of Paris.
“They are perfectly capable of appreciating the nature of the threat and answering it in a proportionate manner,” said General Bruno Leray in a Friday interview with Franceinfo Radio. “If their life or that of the people they defend is threatened, they can go up to opening fire.”
As we reported Wednesday, French authorities announced the deployment of counter-terror troops from Opération Sentinelle to focus on Yellow Vest related threats following the worsening protest situation of the past weekend (after a brief lull at the end of President Macron’s failed ‘great debate’ initiative which pushed town halls to air grievances), which nearly turned deadly for random civilians caught in the mayhem of rioters clashing with police
It has now been confirmed that the French Army will support some 5,000 police trying to keep order during the 19th Yellow Vest Saturday demonstration in a row in Paris at the weekend.
General Leray told Franceinfo Radio on Friday: ‘If their life or that of the people they defend is threatened, they can go up to opening fire.’ –Daily Mail
Opération Sentinelle began after the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks (the series of al-Qaeda linked terrorist acts that began with the Charlie Hebdo shooting) and resulted in some 10,000 soldiers and 4,700 police and gendarmes deployed at sensitive sites and public buildings across the country.
After a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux pointed to the “new forms of violence” Saturday which he said justifies deploying the counter-terror forces.
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