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Thousands of people across France have protested against a security bill that would make it harder to shoot police officers.
Media freedom and human rights groups have been waging protests for weeks for the government to drop or revise a bill that would restrict police filming, saying it would be more difficult to prosecute cases of abuse.
The Interior Ministry said about 52,350 people demonstrated across France, including 5,000 in Paris.
Home Secretary Gerald Darmanin said at least 64 people were arrested across the country and eight police officers were injured. In the western city of Nantes, two riot police were injured, one with a Molotov cocktail, French media reported.
In a tweet, Darmanin praised the police for confronting “very violent individuals”.
In the capital Paris, protesters on Saturday set fire to several cars, looted a bank and threw objects at police – the second consecutive weekend of violent protests against the bill.
French police had been deployed to avoid unrest after violent clashes erupted during the protest in Paris a week ago that left dozens injured.
The new clashes came after Macron gave a long-awaited interview to Brut, a video news portal aimed at young people, on Friday.
Macron said that “there are violent police officers” and insisted that “they must be punished”.
He admitted that “when you have a skin color that is not white, you are much more arrested. [by police]. You are identified as a problematic factor. And that cannot be justified.
But he also criticized the violence against the police during the rally last weekend in Paris, which he blamed on “madmen”.
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