France is facing mounting opposition to a proposed police firearms law that would presume officers acted in self-defence when they used their weapons, after a series of controversial incidents involving protesters and people stopped by police.
The bill, approved by the National Assembly in July, is due to face a vote in the Senate. Critics say it would shift the burden of proof on to complainants and entrench impunity among police officers and gendarmes.
Issam El Khalfaoui, whose son Souhail was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop in Marseille in 2021, has led a petition against the measure which has received more than 700,000 signatures.
“When my son was killed during a police traffic stop, we realised how difficult it was to bring the truth to light,” Mr El Khalfaoui said. He alleged that evidence was covered up, witnesses were not interviewed and that video footage held by the police inspectorate disappeared.
The judicial case was closed in December 2021, but was reopened after the family’s lawyer lodged a complaint alleging “obstruction of the discovery of truth”. A new judge was appointed in 2025 and the investigation remains under way.
Bruno Bartocetti, a regional representative for a police union, said the case had been an act of “self-defence beyond any doubt” and claimed Souhail had wanted to “start a fight”.
Opposition grows amid protests
Scrutiny of police tactics has intensified during nationwide education protests. A 15-year-old lost a hand after being hit by a police stun grenade, while a 14-year-old suffered a shattered jaw and several broken teeth after an officer threw a tear gas canister at close range.
The use of stun grenades has since been halted. Authorities have said that 700 police officers were also injured during the unrest.
Advocacy groups including Stop State Violence, the Human Rights League and Amnesty International, alongside left-wing lawmakers, organised demonstrations in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse. Nearly 50,000 people attended protests on September 20.
Nathalie Tehio, president of the Human Rights League, said the proposed legislation “enables police impunity”.
“If there’s no investigation anymore, that means the police officer can no longer be held responsible for anything,” she said, adding that France was a European leader in the number of people killed by police.
At least 69 people were killed by police or gendarmes in France in 2024, compared with 49 in 2023 and 50 in 2022.
Researchers say a 2017 law allowing officers to use firearms when a vehicle failed to stop has been followed by a fivefold increase in fatal shootings. The measure received broad support across France’s political spectrum at the time.
Sebastien Roche, a researcher at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research who specialises in policing and democracy, said successive governments under President Emmanuel Macron had adopted ideas from the far right.
With presidential elections six months away, he said political parties were competing for voters and the traditional right was seeking to attract supporters who had moved towards the far right.
Concerns over racial profiling
The debate has also revived concerns about discriminatory policing. Mr Roche said studies in the Bouches-du-Rhone region found that non-white people were more than 50 per cent more likely to be stopped by police.
“The way the police monitor people’s behaviour is unfavourable to non-white people,” he said.
Omer Mas Capitolin, who founded a grassroots organisation opposing police violence and discrimination, said he had been handcuffed and held in a chokehold during a police intervention in 2001.
Six organisations, including his group, brought a class action against the French government in 2021 alleging systemic racial discrimination in identity checks. France’s highest court later recognised racial profiling during such checks, while the European Court of Human Rights condemned the country last year over the treatment of Karim Touil.
Mr Mas Capitolin said those rulings had not brought meaningful change. “France is dealing with kids using military-grade weapons. Police officers are over-equipped and over-armed. I’m devastated,” he said.
Mr El Khalfaoui, who co-founded Stop State Violence after his son’s death, said the proposed firearms law would further strengthen the police. “It will be impossible to refute this presumption of self-defence,” he said.
