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Paris shouldn’t lecture Moscow on how to respond to protests, says diplomat

Earlier, the French Foreign Ministry published a tweet to point out that a large number of people had been arrested and detained in the unauthorized protest rally in Moscow on July 27
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Sergei Fadeichev/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said that it is not up to Paris to teach Moscow how to proportionally respond to protests, especially considering the brutal treatment of the yellow vest protesters by the French police.

Earlier, the French Foreign Ministry took to Twitter to point out that a large number of people had been arrested and detained in the unauthorized protest rally in Moscow on July 27.

"The French Foreign Ministry is concerned about the protests in Moscow. Same France, where fighting - this is how the French themselves describe the situation - were taking place between protesters and police for almost a year," Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday. The spokeswoman recalled that in the course of the protest rallies in France 11 people died, 2,500 yellow vest protesters were injured and about 9,000 people were arrested.

According to her, the French authorities "tested all tolls of repressive coercion on the population, from tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons to mass arrests," and stressed that the internal minister was saying that the authorities were not going to protect the order of the republic with soft words.

"After this, it is definitely not up to Paris to lecture anyone on the proportionality of reaction," she underlined.

Zakharova also added that the activists from other countries did not call on Paris to mend its ways and start treating its own population in a humane way in the protests. "Then they should stick to it," the diplomat said.