According to the new version of the National Payment Scheme, journalists will not have to leave the scene during the dispersion of a manifestation. This obligation had been censored by the Council of State in June.
Le Monde with AFP
The Ministry of the Interior has revised its copy on the National Payment Plan (SNMO). As the Justice had ordered, Beauvau Square has published Monday, December 6 the new version of the chapter “Journalists” of SNMO, which specifies the place of these in the protests.
This chapter plans to guarantee “the physical security of journalists”, because “it is imperative to protect the right to inform”, wrote in a statement the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin and his colleague of Culture Roselyne Bachelot.
Last June, the Council of State inflicted a disadvantage to the tenant of Beauvau Square by canceling several provisions of the SNMO presented in September 2020 and forcing him to modify others. Among the censored measures were the obligation of journalists to leave the places of the demonstrations at their dispersal as well as the technique of the “Nasse” – which consists of encircling the protesters and to retain them in a given perimeter.
More obligation for journalists to leave places in case of dispersion
According to the new version, “Journalists can continue to exercise their missions when dispersing a crowd without being required to leave the scene”. With a restriction, however: they will have to place in such a way “that they do not preclude the action of the police” in the demonstrations, whether declared or prohibited, specifies the document consulted by the ‘France-Press agency (AFP).
The new schema also affirms that it is “necessary” that journalists are identifiable, presenting a press card or a “standardized identification certificate provided by their employer or sponsor” from January 2022. “This Certificate has been validated by the profession and recognized by the Crown, “says the document. The ministry also reminds that journalists can “wear protection equipment” and “flow freely within security devices”.
A “referent”, “trained and specifically available”, will be designated within the police for all events and “an exchange channel will be put in place, in the form of a” loop “of telecommunication “.
The entire SNMO published in the coming days
One month before the decision of the Council of State, the Independent Commission Delarue on the relations between the press and the law enforcement had made proposals to bring the two parties closer together. It suggested in particular the non-use of the accreditations for the press and the lack of dispersal obligation during the events.
“This strong position of the Ministry of the Interior goes in common sense and it was important to reconnect the dialogue after a few difficult episodes,” welcomed the CFDT-Journalists. The first version of the SNMO published in September 2020 had been widely criticized by the profession and accused of “infringing the freedom to inform”, according to a dozen writing.
The management of the order of the order has been the subject of strong controversy since the wave of protests against the labor law in 2016 and, above all, the movement of “yellow vests” in 2018-2019.
“It is although the Ministry of the Interior is in line with the decision of the Council of State, reacted Anne-Sophie Simpere, responsible for advocacy” Freedoms “in Amnesty International France. But we are now waiting for Seeing the full NRMO, because it is the entire approach to the current SNMO that was problematic, centered on the use of force and repression rather than approaches to dialogue and de-escalation. “The entire SNMO Will be broadcast in the coming days, said Gérald Darmanin’s entourage at AFP.