PARIS—The heavy-handed policing of anti-government “yellow vest” demonstrations, during which thousands of protesters have been arrested and many wounded, reflects a steady erosion of civil liberties in France, the country’s human-rights watchdog said.
The independent watchdog called for policing methods to be modernized, citing changes in Germany and the United Kingdom, in a report released on the day the Senate was expected to approve a bill giving police greater powers to act against protesters.
