Gendarmes guard during a demonstration in Paris, France, Dec. 5, 2020. Paris police made 22 arrests on Saturday after violence flared up in a demonstration against police brutality and a controversial bill. (Photo: Xinhua)

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in France Saturday for a third consecutive weekend of demonstrations over a controversial security bill that would limit filming of the police.

The authorities had been bracing for further possible violence after the last two such protests in Paris ended in rioting. 

But there were no major flare-ups as several thousand protesters - the organizers claimed a turnout of 10,000 - flanked on all sides by riot police marched through the city.

The demonstrations attracted around 60,000 people across the country, according to organizers, while the interior ministry put that number at over 26,000.

"Global repression, total regression," read a placard held aloft by one demonstrator in the capital, a reference to the new "global security" bill which bans the "malevolent" publication of images showing the faces of police officers in action.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted that "several hundred thugs had come to commit violence" in Paris. 

Demonstrations were also held in Lyon, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Lille, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseille.

Critics argue that the security bill, which has been adopted by the lower house of parliament, will make it harder for journalists and citizens to document cases of police brutality.

Footage of white police beating up an unarmed black music producer in his studio on November 21 amplified anger over the legislation, widely seen as signaling a rightward lurch by President Emmanuel Macron.

Other incidents caught on camera have shown police in Paris using violence to tear down a migrant camp.

AFP