A French mayor issued a decree to ban police from using Flash Ball riot control guns during the Gilets Jaunes ('Yellow Vests') protest in his town on Saturday, citing a United Nations demand for a investigation into allegations of police brutality as one of the reasons, reports Euronews.
Mayor Dany Kocher from Phalsbourg, a small town of about 5,000 inhabitants in the Moselle département (county) in eastern France, issued the decree on Saturday. It was released online by journalist and anti-police brutality activist David Dufresne.
The decree cites the UN's request, issued on Wednesday by its human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, for a "full investigation of all reported cases of excessive use of force."
It also refers to the Council of Europe's February recommendation that French authorities "should suspend the use of LBDs [rubber bullet launchers] during operations aimed at maintaining public order."
Kocher's decision is likely to reignite the debate into the police use of the "LBD40", a weapon described as non-lethal, which projects 40-mm semi-rigid rubber balls.