At least 400 people gathered in Caen on Saturday, September 19, to protest a proposed law currently under review in the Senate. The law would assume that police officers and gendarmes are acting lawfully when they use their weapons, shifting the burden of proof in cases involving the use of force. Demonstrators assembled at Pierre-Bouchard Square in the center of Caen (Calvados) around 2 p.m. and later marched with banners to Place de la République. They chanted "No to a kill permit," expressing concerns that the law would make it harder to hold law enforcement accountable for excessive force. The proposed law would require victims or their families to prove that police officers had no right to use their weapons, reversing the current legal standard. Etienne Adam, president of the Caen branch of the League for Human Rights (LDH), who attended the demonstration, warned that the law could lead to more deaths and worsen existing tensions. He emphasized that shifting the burden of proof to the victim or their family would make it harder to challenge police actions. Amnesty International also criticized the proposal, calling it a dangerous reversal of legal principles that must be firmly rejected. Eric Pauget, the deputy who introduced the bill in December 2024, defended the proposal as a necessary measure to protect law enforcement from judicial overreach and ensure they can carry out their duties without fear. He clarified that the law does not aim to exempt police from legal oversight but to provide them with adequate protection. However, the proposal has faced strong opposition from legal and judicial organizations, including the Syndicat de la magistrature and the Syndicat des avocats de France, which called for a nationwide demonstration on September 19. The protest was supported by labor unions such as the CGT and the political group La France insoumise. The demonstrators, who included people of all ages but were mostly under thirty, carried a symbolic coffin to highlight their fear that the law could lead to more deaths linked to police violence. Many expressed the need for accountability and for victims to be heard, emphasizing the importance of building a society where those who act in the name of the Republic are also held responsible. Tesnim, a 17-year-old high school student and activist with the Young Communists movement, raised concerns about police actions in the Chemin Vert neighborhood, where young people as young as 12 or 13 were subjected to checks that forced them to leave their homes. A demonstrator who wished to remain anonymous criticized the proposed law as a step toward increased repression, drawing comparisons to the 2017 "Cazeneuve law," which expanded the circumstances under which police could use their weapons. According to a 2022 study, deaths resulting from such incidents increased fivefold after that law was passed. Eric Pauget’s proposal was already approved by a majority of deputies in the National Assembly last July, but it still needs Senate approval to become law. A petition opposing the law has collected over 732,000 signatures, but the National Assembly’s law commission decided in July not to proceed with further action, despite the threshold for a public debate being met.