DEMONSTRATION AGAINST

POLICE VIOLENCE IN FRANCE

Despite the prefectural ban, some 20,000 demonstrators gathered in court Tuesday evening to answer the call of the family support committee for Adama Traoré, the 24-year-old black man who died in 2016 after his arrest.

A parallel with the death of Georges Floyd and the American police violence

On the signs we could read many references to Eric Garner, who died in 2014 in New York during his arrest, or to Zyed and Bouna, who died in 2005 in Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis) after a race- prosecution with the police. Three featured letters: "BLM", for "Black Lives Matter [". On the masks we sometimes read "I can't breathe", words spoken in their respective languages, shortly before their death, by George Floyd and Adama Traoré. "The death of George Floyd is modeled on the death of Adama Traore" claims his sister, Assa Traore.

Certain members of the security forces in France have been accused in recent years of disproportionate use of force, in particular during the opposition to the Sivens dam project in 2014, demonstrations against the El Khomri law in 2016, or more recently during the Yellow Vests demonstrations in 2018 and 2019. The current government has always rejected the term "police violence", denounced by human rights organizations

Violent clashes and 18 arrests in a prohibited demonstration

This rally in tribute to Adama Traore and against police violence, which took place in peace until 9 p.m., then degenerated into sometimes violent incidents. Street furniture fires were lit and participants blocked the ring road while the police were trying to evacuate the premises.

Eighteen people were arrested. 13 were carried out in Paris and gave rise to 12 police custody, including 4 against minors. Individuals placed in police custody are suspected of having carried a weapon without legitimate reason, participated in a crowd after summons, committed degradations, aggravated violence or insults on any person holding public authority. "Violence has no place in democracy," tweeted the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner. Nothing justifies the excesses which occurred this evening in Paris, whereas the rallies of public way are prohibited to protect the health of all. "

The demonstration, which had been announced since May 29 on social networks but had not been the subject of a prior declaration, had been banned by the Prefecture, on the grounds that it was "not authorized by the decree of May 31, 2020 relating to the health emergency, which prohibits any gathering, in the public space, of more than ten people.

Four years after the death of Adama Traoré, on July 19, 2016, this case became a battle between legal experts who dismiss the responsibility of the gendarmes and the doctors chosen by the family who sweep their conclusions.

Condemnation of the government and the right

French government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye on Wednesday called for caution over the comparison between police violence in the United States, where the death of a 46-year-old black man during a police check continues to cause outrage and monster protests in the United States. "I believe that the situation of our two countries is not entirely comparable either in terms of history or in terms of the organization of society, I call to approach these subjects with great caution" she said.

The right, meanwhile, condemned this Wednesday the prohibited rally organized the day before in Paris at the call of the support committee for the family of Adama Traore. "It is inadmissible because I remind you that we are still in the grip of a state of health emergency and that normally the gatherings of more than ten people are prohibited", indignant the leader of the senators LR Bruno Retailleau on Cnews. "What is also unacceptable is that some of the Adama Traore memory support committee want to link what happened in the United States to what supposedly happened, four years ago, here in France, "he added in connection with accusations of police violence.

"Such a demonstration, in full state of emergency, is to flout the law", also denounced the president LR of the Senate Gérard Larcher on RTL.