European Parliament approves copyright reform

Re:European Parliament approves copyright reform by paganel on Tuesday March 26, 2019 @09:35AM (#19491615)

Armies are supposed to fight against foreign troops, at worst, they are supposed to take sides in the event of a civil war, in no way are they supposed to be sent against their own citizenry. At least not in a democratic country.

What's worst is that the crooks that run things around my part of the continent (I live in Eastern Europe) have given Macron's recent actions as an example, as in: "if France's rulers are happy to tear-gas their own citizenry why are we blamed for doing the same thing"?

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Re:European Parliament approves copyright reform by Juliate on Tuesday March 26, 2019 @09:38AM (#19491651)

Militaries were not sent against anyone, they were placed to protect more of the institutions (that were not on the paths of protests), so that police forces could be relieved there to be concentrated on hot protest areas.

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Re:European Parliament approves copyright reform by paganel on Tuesday March 26, 2019 @09:42AM (#19491690)

The Gendarmerie (a quasi-military force) have been quite apt at sending hard things into people's faces, no need to send in the military. This was purely a show of force from Macron.

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Re:European Parliament approves copyright reform by Juliate on Tuesday March 26, 2019 @09:53AM (#19491793)

The Gendarmerie has a double status: it's a military force but it's mission is one of police.

Now, a state (democratic or not) _has to_ show force, because that's one of the definitions of a state: an entity that takes the monopoly on violence.

Given the violence that demonstrated itself in some very specific places by very specific groups of people (and disrupted things even worse for others), it has to be expected that the state reacts. The contrary would be a sign of weakness through which more chaos would pour.

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