Wow! Those are the French National Police. You're lucky they didn't break that camera over your head. In my experience, you NEVER point a camera at them.
It is apparently illegal to photograph the police in France, just as it is illegal to exhibit somebody's "image" without their consent. The police really don't mind, unless they're really in the middle of an operation. It happened to me a few times, and they never appeared to want to "break that camera over my head", they just gave me a clear warning.
I did notice that expats feel offended/surprised by their (the locals') request to stop photographing, and in turn, whether they're police or not, they get irritated by the
seeming arrogance of the expat ("why, I
have the right!" -- unfortunately, no). Different countries, different customs, different laws...
This is where the perceived "crankiness of the French" comes in: the French love to argue and they have an opinion about you-name-it, but they do not tend to be aggressive about it. The candor is perceived as aggressive by foreigners, who only express themselves openly when their emotions run high (it's either "that's a-mazing!" or "that's effin' bull...") Boilerplate qualifier:
in general.
Anyway, general sentiment towards public photography is pretty easy going. Unlike, say, the one found in London.
One easy rule to remember: courtesy. Do your stuff in a courteous manner, you'll be treated the same. There are no flash-point "zero tolerance" attitudes as commonly found in the U.S. If you don't abuse this freedom of "laissez-faire", they will let you "laisser faire".
🙂
