French police cleared to use drones for crowd monitoring

FILE PHOTO: French gendarmes stand in position during a demonstration in front of the Paris City Hall after French government's pension reform received the Constitutional Council's green light and can now be signed into law and enter into force swiftly, in Paris, France, April 14, 2023. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

PARIS (Reuters) - French police is allowed from Friday to use drones equipped with cameras for a wide range of tasks including crowd monitoring and border control, following the publication of a decree in the Official Journal on Thursday.

This comes just over a year before the Paris 2024 Olympics and at a time when opposition to President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform has triggered huge protests that at times turned violent.