France, Olympic champion in repression

Our press release is available in french here.

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games began on 24 July 2024 under the ambition of being « a great popular festival », according to its organising committee. For many months now, various groups have been exposing the hypocrisy of this event, which is being used as a cover for unprecedented social cleansing and the introduction of measures that undermine freedoms, such as the experimentation with algorithm-based surveillance, house arrest and the restriction of access to certain areas without a pass. This repression has intensified since last week, with the aim of silencing any protest voices whose legitimate aim is to uncover the hidden face of these Olympic Games, in sharp contrast to the image of tolerance and inclusiveness that the French government wishes to convey. This image was particularly emphasised at the opening ceremony, which celebrated France’s insurrectionary past and its great feminist figures, pioneers of civil disobedience, before the whole world.

Yet not a day goes by without an attack on fundamental freedoms and the use of disproportionate police resources to prevent the voicing of opinions at odds with the government’s official narrative :
On 23 July, dozens of activists were taken into custody for putting up « The Olympics are no fun » stickers in the metro. On 24 July, 6 people were searched and deprived of their liberty for 60 hours for an action against flying taxis involving water-based paint on a civil aviation building on 1 May 2024. On 26 July, a dozen people were also taken into police custody for no real reason. On 27 July, journalists were rounded up for an hour and 60 activists were taken into custody even before an action against the Olympic Games involving bundles of straw, insidiously described as « sabotage » by the prefecture of police. This time, on 28 July, journalists were taken into custody almost 10 hours for trying to cover a symbolic tour of the…