An international lawyer has filed complaints against France in the UN Human Rights Council for using violence against pro-marriage demonstrators in Paris.

Videos show French police beating marriage demonstrators, using tear gas and clubs against women, men, elderly and children.

Gregor Puppinck of the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) brought the complaint against France at the most recent session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Mr Puppinck noted that France was the first European country the ECLJ has filed a complaint against at the United Nations.

He was speaking at a meeting about the repression of French pro-marriage group, La Manif Pour Tous, which means “demonstration for all”  hosted by the ECLJ at the Council of Europe this week.

Homosexual marriage and adoption became law in France on May 18. But La Manif Pour Tous, which numbers millions of French citizens, is continuing to oppose the measures.

Since the law passed, La Manif has followed French President Francois Hollande with colorful demonstrations of people who believe children have a right to a mother and a father.  

French authorities have decided pro-family demonstratos are a public threat, according to Mr Puppinck.

Riot police show up anywhere the demonstrators appear. They have been subject to a series of identity checks, arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as police brutality through physical assaults and tear gas.

Those assaulted by police have included a former cabinet member, Christine Boutin, who was tear-gassed, and Jean-Fredrick Poisson, a Member of the French parliament.  

A report in Le Figaro has estimates of over 1000 arrests and 500 detentions since May 26. More than 150 individuals have filed complaints through different redress mechanisms.  

In comparison, says the report, when violent riots erupted following a victory of the Paris soccer team in May only 11 people were arrested. Nearly 300 were arrested at a La Manif demonstration the same month.  

Many were arrested solely for wearing a t-shirt with La Manif’s logo, an outline of a mother and father with two children. Forty-eight parliamentarians have demanded Hollande end the detentions and arrests.  

Two more massive gatherings of hundreds of thousands demonstrators each time have taken place since January. The French Minister of the Interior, Manoel Valls justifies the presence of riot police by citing brief clashes between riot police and “a few hundred” protesters at the end of some demonstrations.

But videos show French riot police charging peaceful protesters and families with children and elderly or disabled French citizens blinded by tear gas.  

A rally on Monday protested the trial of one peaceful demonstrator, 23-year old Nicolas Bernard-Busse. He was sentenced to two months in prison and 1,000 Euros. Nicolas sought refuge in a restaurant after police charged a group of protesters on May 26. He was accused of evading arrest, even though no cause for arrest was alleged against him.

Dozens of cases like Nicolas’ will riddle the French justice system in coming months, and perhaps years. Demonstrators say they don’t care how long it takes to repeal the law.  

Axel, a youth leader, told participants at a rally that was violently dispersed by police: “It is our inner life, our peace, our love which form the greatest force of résistance, and to this, the government can oppose nothing.”