#Protesters defy demonstration ban to march against police violence in Paris

[itsfinancethings]

(LONDON) — Anti-racism demonstrators held protests across the U.K. for a fourth weekend on Saturday, despite a ban on large gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Demonstrations inspired by the Black Lives Matter campaign were taking place in cities including London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Several thousand people gathered in London’s Hyde Park, sitting on the grass and listening to speakers, before setting off on a boisterous, peaceful march to Trafalgar Square. A smaller group marched from south London, near the U.S. Embassy.

“We are all here today because we know that black lives matter. We are all here today because we know that black is beautiful,” Imarn Ayton, one of the protest organizers, told the crowd in Hyde Park. “And we are all here today because we know that it is time to burn down institutional racism.”

The largely youthful crowds in London were smaller — and more socially distanced — than those seen in the first two weeks after Floyd’s death. Since then the protest movement has become more geographically widespread, with hundreds of demonstrations held in towns, cities and neighborhoods across the U.K.

Jeremy Mukel, 33, originally from New York, said he was encouraged by the number of white people among the protesters in London.

“I think people are becoming a lot more aware,” he said.

Hundreds attended a socially distanced Say No to Racism rally in Glasgow’s George Square, where earlier this week members of the far right attacked a refugee-rights gathering.

In Edinburgh, protesters including “Trainspotting” author Irvine Welsh called for the removal of a statue of Henry Dundas from its column in the city’s St. Andrew Square. The late 18th-century Scottish politician was responsible for delaying Britain’s abolition of the slave trade by 15 years until 1807. During that time, more than half a million enslaved Africans were trafficked across the Atlantic.

Hundreds of thousands of people have held mostly peaceful protests across Britain since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, urging the U.K. to confront its own history of imperialism and racial inequality.

After some protesters scuffled with police and defaced a statue of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill in London, and demonstrators in Bristol toppled a statue of slave trader Edward Colston, counter-protesters rallied last week with the stated aim of protecting monuments.

Hundreds of soccer hooligans and far-right activists clashed June 13 with police near the Churchill statue in London, which had been boarded up for protection.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced he is setting up a commission to look at what more can be done to eliminate racial injustice, but opponents accuse the Conservative government of opting for talk rather than action.

Protests were also being held Saturday in France, where hundreds of people in Paris marched against racism and police violence and in memory of Black men who have died following encounters with French police or under suspicious circumstances.

[hellofastestnewsfan]

PARIS — Tear gas choked Paris streets as riot police faced off with protesters setting fires Tuesday amid growing global outrage over George Floyd’s death in the United States, racial injustice and heavy-handed police tactics around the world.

French protesters took a knee and raised their fists while firefighters struggled to extinguish multiple blazes as a largely peaceful, multiracial demonstration degenerated into scattered tensions. Several thousand people defied a virus-related ban on protests to pay homage to Floyd and Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody.

Electric scooters and construction barriers went up in flames, and smoke stained a sign reading “Restaurant Open” — on the first day French cafes were allowed to open after nearly three months of virus lockdown.

Chanting “I can’t breathe,” thousands marched peacefully through Australia’s largest city, while thousands more demonstrated in the Dutch capital of The Hague and hundreds rallied in Tel Aviv. Expressions of anger erupted in multiple languages on social networks, with thousands of Swedes joining an online protest and others speaking out under the banner of #BlackOutTuesday.

Diplomatic ire percolated too, with the European Union’s top foreign policy official saying the bloc was “shocked and appalled” by Floyd’s death.

Floyd died last week after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. The death set off protests that spread across America — and now, beyond.

As demonstrations escalated worldwide, solidarity with U.S. protesters increasingly mixed with local worries.

“This happened in the United States, but it happens in France, it happens everywhere,” Paris protester Xavier Dintimille said. While he said police violence seems worse in the U.S., he added, “all blacks live this to a degree.”

Fears of the coronavirus remain close to the surface and were the reason cited for banning Tuesday’s protest at the main Paris courthouse, because gatherings of more than 10 people remain forbidden.

But demonstrators showed up anyway. Some said police violence worsened during virus confinement in working class suburbs with large minority populations, deepening a feeling of injustice.

As the Paris demonstration wound down, police fired volley after volley of tear gas and protesters threw debris. Police were less visible than usual at the city’s frequent protests. Tensions also erupted at a related protest in the southern city of Marseille.

The demonstrations were held in honor of Traore, who died shortly after his arrest in 2016, and in solidarity with Americans demonstrating against Floyd’s death.

The Traore case has become emblematic of the fight against police brutality in France. The circumstances of the death of the 24-year-old Frenchman of Malian origin are still under investigation after four years of conflicting medical reports about what happened.

The lawyer for two of the three police officers involved in the arrest, Rodolphe Bosselut, said the Floyd and Traore cases “have strictly nothing to do with each other.” Bosselut told The Associated Press that Traore’s death wasn’t linked with the conditions of his arrest but other factors, including a preexisting medical condition.

Traore’s family says he died from asphyxiation because of police tactics — and that his last words were “I can’t breathe.”

“I can’t breathe” were also the final words of David Dungay, a 26-year-old Aboriginal man who died in a Sydney prison in 2015 while being restrained by five guards.

As 3,000 people marched peacefully through Sydney, many said they had been inspired by a mixture of sympathy for African Americans and to call for change in Australia’s treatment of its indigenous population, particularly involving police. The mostly Australian crowd at the authorized demonstration also included protesters from the U.S. and elsewhere.

“I’m here for my people, and for our fallen brothers and sisters around the world,” said Sydney indigenous woman Amanda Hill, 46, who attended the rally with her daughter and two nieces. “What’s happening in America shines a light on the situation here.”

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump fanned anger by threatening to send in troops on American protesters, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refrained from directly criticizing him and said the protests should force awareness of racism everywhere.

“We all watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States,” he said after pausing 21 seconds before answering. “But it is a time for us as Canadians to recognize that we, too, have our challenges, that black Canadians and racialized Canadians face discrimination as a lived reality every single day. There is systemic discrimination in Canada.”

More protests in various countries are planned later in the week, including a string of demonstrations in front of U.S. embassies on Saturday.

The drama unfolding in the U.S. drew increasing diplomatic concern.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s remarks in Brussels were the strongest to come out of the 27-nation bloc, saying Floyd’s death was a result of an abuse of power.

Borrell told reporters that “like the people of the United States, we are shocked and appalled by the death of George Floyd.” He underlined that Europeans “support the right to peaceful protest, and also we condemn violence and racism of any kind, and for sure, we call for a de-escalation of tensions.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said peaceful protests in the U.S. following Floyd’s death are “understandable and more than legitimate.”

“I can only express my hope that the peaceful protests do not continue to lead to violence, but even more express the hope that these protests have an effect in the United States,” Maas said.

More African leaders are speaking up over the killing of Floyd.

“It cannot be right that, in the 21st century, the United States, this great bastion of democracy, continues to grapple with the problem of systemic racism,” Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo said in a statement, adding that black people the world over are shocked and distraught.

Kenyan opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga offered a prayer for the U.S., “that there be justice and freedom for all human beings who call America their country.”

Like some in Africa who have spoken out, Odinga also noted troubles at home, saying the judging of people by character instead of skin color “is a dream we in Africa, too, owe our citizens.”

___

Associated Press writers Rick Rycroft in Sydney, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Lori Hinnant in Paris, Aritz Parra in Madrid, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Peter Dejong in The Hague contributed.

from TIME https://ift.tt/308tse5

[newstechreviews]

PARIS — Tear gas choked Paris streets as riot police faced off with protesters setting fires Tuesday amid growing global outrage over George Floyd’s death in the United States, racial injustice and heavy-handed police tactics around the world.

French protesters took a knee and raised their fists while firefighters struggled to extinguish multiple blazes as a largely peaceful, multiracial demonstration degenerated into scattered tensions. Several thousand people defied a virus-related ban on protests to pay homage to Floyd and Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody.

Electric scooters and construction barriers went up in flames, and smoke stained a sign reading “Restaurant Open” — on the first day French cafes were allowed to open after nearly three months of virus lockdown.

Chanting “I can’t breathe,” thousands marched peacefully through Australia’s largest city, while thousands more demonstrated in the Dutch capital of The Hague and hundreds rallied in Tel Aviv. Expressions of anger erupted in multiple languages on social networks, with thousands of Swedes joining an online protest and others speaking out under the banner of #BlackOutTuesday.

Diplomatic ire percolated too, with the European Union’s top foreign policy official saying the bloc was “shocked and appalled” by Floyd’s death.

Floyd died last week after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. The death set off protests that spread across America — and now, beyond.

As demonstrations escalated worldwide, solidarity with U.S. protesters increasingly mixed with local worries.

“This happened in the United States, but it happens in France, it happens everywhere,” Paris protester Xavier Dintimille said. While he said police violence seems worse in the U.S., he added, “all blacks live this to a degree.”

Fears of the coronavirus remain close to the surface and were the reason cited for banning Tuesday’s protest at the main Paris courthouse, because gatherings of more than 10 people remain forbidden.

But demonstrators showed up anyway. Some said police violence worsened during virus confinement in working class suburbs with large minority populations, deepening a feeling of injustice.

As the Paris demonstration wound down, police fired volley after volley of tear gas and protesters threw debris. Police were less visible than usual at the city’s frequent protests. Tensions also erupted at a related protest in the southern city of Marseille.

The demonstrations were held in honor of Traore, who died shortly after his arrest in 2016, and in solidarity with Americans demonstrating against Floyd’s death.

The Traore case has become emblematic of the fight against police brutality in France. The circumstances of the death of the 24-year-old Frenchman of Malian origin are still under investigation after four years of conflicting medical reports about what happened.

The lawyer for two of the three police officers involved in the arrest, Rodolphe Bosselut, said the Floyd and Traore cases “have strictly nothing to do with each other.” Bosselut told The Associated Press that Traore’s death wasn’t linked with the conditions of his arrest but other factors, including a preexisting medical condition.

Traore’s family says he died from asphyxiation because of police tactics — and that his last words were “I can’t breathe.”

“I can’t breathe” were also the final words of David Dungay, a 26-year-old Aboriginal man who died in a Sydney prison in 2015 while being restrained by five guards.

As 3,000 people marched peacefully through Sydney, many said they had been inspired by a mixture of sympathy for African Americans and to call for change in Australia’s treatment of its indigenous population, particularly involving police. The mostly Australian crowd at the authorized demonstration also included protesters from the U.S. and elsewhere.

“I’m here for my people, and for our fallen brothers and sisters around the world,” said Sydney indigenous woman Amanda Hill, 46, who attended the rally with her daughter and two nieces. “What’s happening in America shines a light on the situation here.”

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump fanned anger by threatening to send in troops on American protesters, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refrained from directly criticizing him and said the protests should force awareness of racism everywhere.

“We all watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States,” he said after pausing 21 seconds before answering. “But it is a time for us as Canadians to recognize that we, too, have our challenges, that black Canadians and racialized Canadians face discrimination as a lived reality every single day. There is systemic discrimination in Canada.”

More protests in various countries are planned later in the week, including a string of demonstrations in front of U.S. embassies on Saturday.

The drama unfolding in the U.S. drew increasing diplomatic concern.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s remarks in Brussels were the strongest to come out of the 27-nation bloc, saying Floyd’s death was a result of an abuse of power.

Borrell told reporters that “like the people of the United States, we are shocked and appalled by the death of George Floyd.” He underlined that Europeans “support the right to peaceful protest, and also we condemn violence and racism of any kind, and for sure, we call for a de-escalation of tensions.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said peaceful protests in the U.S. following Floyd’s death are “understandable and more than legitimate.”

“I can only express my hope that the peaceful protests do not continue to lead to violence, but even more express the hope that these protests have an effect in the United States,” Maas said.

More African leaders are speaking up over the killing of Floyd.

“It cannot be right that, in the 21st century, the United States, this great bastion of democracy, continues to grapple with the problem of systemic racism,” Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo said in a statement, adding that black people the world over are shocked and distraught.

Kenyan opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga offered a prayer for the U.S., “that there be justice and freedom for all human beings who call America their country.”

Like some in Africa who have spoken out, Odinga also noted troubles at home, saying the judging of people by character instead of skin color “is a dream we in Africa, too, owe our citizens.”

___

Associated Press writers Rick Rycroft in Sydney, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Lori Hinnant in Paris, Aritz Parra in Madrid, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Peter Dejong in The Hague contributed.

[itsfinancethings]

(PARIS) — French police will no longer be allowed to use chokeholds during arrests, the interior minister said Monday, banning the immobilization technique after it came under renewed criticism following George Floyd’s death in the United States.

With the French government under increasing pressure to address accusations of brutality and racism within the police force, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced Monday that “the method of seizing the neck via strangling will be abandoned and will no longer be taught in police schools.”

He said that during an arrest, “it will be now forbidden to push on the back of the neck or the neck.”

“No arrest should put lives at risk,” he said.

Yet Castaner stopped short of banning another technique — pressing on a prone suspect’s chest, which also has been blamed for leading to asphyxiation and possible death.

Floyd died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped responding. Three days later, another black man writhed on the street in Paris as a white police officer pressed a knee to his neck during an arrest.

French lawmakers have called for such practices to be banned, and they have raised criticism in other countries too.

France has seen several protests over the past week sparked by Floyd’s death, which is stirring up anger around the world.

President Emmanuel Macron has stayed unusually silent so far both about Floyd’s death and what’s happening in France. Macron’s office said he spoke to the prime minister and other top officials over the weekend, and asked Castaner to “accelerate” plans to improve police ethics that were initially promised in January.

Castaner acknowledged that there are racist police officers and promised “zero tolerance” for racism within the force going forward.

He ordered police officers to be systematically suspended when they are suspected of racist acts and comments, in addition to criminal proceedings.

“Racism has no place in our society and even less” so among police, he said.

In addition, Castaner said that more police officers will be equipped with body cameras to help ensure that identity checks don’t lead to discrimination against minority groups, as human rights groups accuse French police of ethnic profiling.

Last week, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation into racist insults and instigating racial hatred based on comments allegedly published by police in a private Facebook group.

Website Streetpress published a string of offensive messages that it said were published within the group, though acknowledged that it is unclear whether the authors were actual police officers or people pretending to be police. Some of the reported comments mocked young men of color who have died fleeing police.

Separately, six police officers in the Normandy city of Rouen are under internal investigation over racist comments in a private WhatsApp group. Both incidents have prompted public concerns about extreme views among French police.

French activists say tensions in low-income neighborhoods with large minority populations grew worse amid coronavirus confinement measures, because they further empowered the police.

At least 23,000 people protested in cities around France on Saturday against racial injustice and police brutality, even defying a police ban on such protests in Paris due to fears about spreading coronavirus.

Thousands of activists marched Monday in the western city of Nantes, and more demonstrations are planned in France on Tuesday, when Floyd is being buried.

The body that investigates allegations of police misconduct, the Inspectorate General of the National Police, known by its French acronym IGPN, said that 19 people have died and 117 others have been injured during police operations in France last year, according to a report released Monday.

The IGPN has investigated 1,460 complaints against officers last year, about half of them for alleged violence against civilians. Many incidents were related to often violent anti-government yellow vest protests, the report said.

[itsfinancethings]

Some 20,000 people in Paris defied a ban against public gathering on Tuesday to protest the death of Adama Traoré, a black man who died at the hands of police officers in 2016. The protests were sparked after an independent probe commissioned by Traoré’s family was finally released on Tuesday; it found that his death was caused by the violent arrest by police forces.

Protesters, who also gathered in Marseille, Lyon and Lille, held up signs in English and French that read, “I can’t breathe” and “Black Lives Matter.” They called upon leaders to bring an end to police brutality. More protests are planned for Saturday, according to posts on social media.

The demonstrations go beyond solidarity with American protesters, who have been gathering since George Floyd was killed on May 25. “These protests are not just a response to what is happening in the United States. [They are] a response to Traoré, to police violence that took place during the lockdown and to the history of brutality at the hands of officers in France,” says Mathieu Rigouste, author of La Domination Policère, a 2012 book that argues current French police practices are rooted in the colonial era.

It’s no surprise that police brutality in the U.S. resonates with minorities in France, who are demanding accountability and transparency.“Today we are not just talking about the fight of the Traoré family. It’s the fight for everyone. When we fight for George Floyd, we fight for Adama Traore,” his sister, Assa said, who organized the protest.

According to a report by the independent authority in charge of human rights in France, young Arab and black men are 20 times more likely to be stopped than their white counterparts. While there are no official statistics on how many fatalities are caused by police brutality, some estimates suggest that the number has doubled in the past five years, with an average of 25 to 35 deaths a year. In 2019, the number of investigations into police violence opened by the Inspection générale de la Police National—the official police watchdog—increased by 20%.

Julien Benjamin Guillaume Mattia—Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesSigns are seen on the floor after clashes erupt following the intervention of security forces in a protest against police brutality at the Tribunal de Paris courthouse on June 2.

Although France experiences far fewer fatal police shootings compared to the United States, France has taken comparatively few steps to combat police brutality. In France, citizens can be subject to legal action if they take video footage of police officers and politicians continue to debate whether racialized policing is even a problem. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for President Emmanuel Macron’s government, Sibeth Ndiaye, said “I don’t believe we can say that France is a racist country.” She added that the United States and France are “not at all comparable … not historically, nor in the way our societies are organized.”

But many protesters and experts disagree. “Both the United States and France are societies that are capitalist, racist and patriarchal,” says Rigouste. “They are constructed around this.”

Here’s more on the current protests and the history of police brutality in France.

Who was Adama Traoré?

Adama Traoré was a French-Malian man who died in police custody on July 19, 2016 after a brutal arrest.

Traoré was out celebrating his 24th birthday with his older brother Bagui in Beaumont-sur-Oise, a town north of Paris, when both men were stopped by two undercover police officers. Traoré did not have his papers on him and was fearful officers would bring him to the station for lengthy checks, according to his family, and ran to a nearby apartment. When the three police officers entered the apartment, they say they jumped on Traoré. Although one officer says he and his colleagues only used “necessary force,” he said that the three of them had their body weight on Traoré’s back. Witnesses said Traoré did not resist the arrest. Unable to breathe properly under such pressure, Traoré said to the officers “I can’t breathe.”

By the time Traoré was put in a police car, he was fainting and urinating. While officers say they placed him in the recovery position, firefighters who were called to the station for medical assistance say they found him face-down, with no one helping him. France’s emergency medical services declared Traoré dead by 7 p.m.

It was only around 10 p.m., three hours after his death, that Traoré’s family was given the news of his death. (They say one officer had assured them he was fine, and another told them Traoré was in the hospital.) When his mother and brothers became emotional, they say police used teargas to disperse them.

Julien Mattia—GettyPeople raise their fists as they take part in a march in memory of Adama Traore, who died during his arrest by the police in July 2016, on July 22, 2017 in Beaumont-sur-Oise, northeast of Paris.

The exact circumstances surrounding Traoré’s death are the subject of an on-going battle between the French authorities and Traoré’s family and activists who allege there was a state cover up. An initial autopsy concluded that Traoré died of a heart attack and a serious blood infection. But many, especially Traoré’s family, were skeptical of the report, given that Traoré had no preexisting medical conditions. Suspicions grew when authorities allegedly offered to send the body to Mali for a burial and to provide passports to relatives that did not have one. The family asked for a second autopsy, which found that asphyxiation was the direct cause of death. But the three doctors overseeing the investigation said the suffocation was caused by a cardiac anomaly and insisted that violence was not the cause.

Why are protests happening now?

Two days after protests erupted on May 26 in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd, the officers in France who arrested Traoré were exonerated by a medical report ordered by the judge in charge of the case. On Tuesday, June 2, an independent autopsy ordered by the family concluded that Traoré’s death was caused by arrest techniques.

Traoré’s sister Assa, a 35-year-old teacher, called for protests to take place on Tuesday in front of the courthouse of Paris’ 17th arrondissement. “What is happening in the United States has today brought to light what is happening in France,” Assa, Traoré’s sister, said to protesters. “We need to end the racism that is happening here in France.”

  Julien Mattia—GettyAssa Traore (C), the elder sister of late Adama Traore, who died during his arrest by the police in July 2016, wearing a tee-shirt reading ‘Justice for Adama, without justice, you won’t have peace’ delivers a speech during a commemorative march on July 22, 2017 in Beaumont-sur-Oise, northeast of Paris.

Over 20,000 people joined the march in North-East Paris according to the police, while organizers put the number at 40,000. Protesters carried signs with “Black Lives Matter,” the names of George Floyd and Adama Traoré, and the words “I can’t breathe,” pointing to the similar technique that killed both men.

“[The protests] are a way to remind ourselves what French history rests on—colonialism and slave trade,” says Hajer, 28 year-old protester, who asked TIME to only use her first name for professional reasons. “We cannot start anew if we don’t address these problems.”

What is the history of police brutality in France?

Bertrand Guay—AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters hold placards reading “We are all George Floyd” (R) and “Racism is suffocating us” (L) during a demonstration outside the United States Embassy in Paris on June 1 after the police killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in the U.S.

There’s a long history of police brutality against France’s black and Arab populations, activists say.

Since the 1970s, activist organizations such as the Arab Workers’ Movement have called out racist forms of policing. But police abuses have continued. “There is an extension of police violence that increasingly touches everyone,” says Rigouste. “But it is used more harshly against certain populations, especially people of color and poorer populations that are segregated.”

In 2005, Bouna Traoré, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17, were electrocuted when they ran into an electricity substation in a Parisian suburb after being chased by the police. A third boy, Muhittin Altun, survived but suffered major burns. The incident set off demonstrations across France, with protestors drawing attention to police brutality and inequality for people living in poorer suburbs. Vehicles and buildings were set on fire and thousands of protestors were arrested. The protests led President Jacques Chirac to call a state of emergency for the first time in 20 years. It lasted three weeks. In 2015, the officers—Sebastien Gaillemin and Stephanie Klein—were cleared of charges.

Police brutality in France has been called out by both national and international human right organizations. France was the first European Union country found to be guilty of torture by the European Courts of Human Rights in 1999 for the French police’s treatment of Ahmed Selmouni, a drug dealer who said he was beaten and sexually assaulted by police officers during questioning in 1991.

In 2009, Amnesty International warned of “a pattern of de facto impunity” among French police officers. Although France prohibits the collection of data based on ethnicity—making it difficult to identify patterns of racial profiling—the Défenseur des droits, a non-governmental French institution charged with protecting the right of citizens, released a report in 2017 that denounced practices of racial profiling. Last year, Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called for a “full investigation” into the excessive use of force by French police officers.

Recent cases of police violence have brought the issue into the mainstream. In 2015, Remi Fraisse, a 21-year-old white environmental activist, was killed by a grenade thrown by the National Gendarmerie while protesting the construction of a dam. When the Yellow Vest movement erupted in November 2018—and people took to the streets to express a general discontent with their decreasing living standards—police brutality resulted in the loss of 24 eyes and five hands, 315 head injuries and two deaths, according to a 2019 investigation by French journal MediaPart.

Francois Lo Presti—Getty ImagesManuel C., a “Yellow Vest” who was wounded in his left eye by a projectile likely shot by police during a “yellow vest” (gilets jaunes) demonstration on November 16, takes part alongside his wife in a march against police violence, on November 23, 2019, in the streets of Valenciennes, northern France.

In January of this year, Cedric Chouviat, a 42-year-old delivery driver died after police held him to the ground in Paris. That same month, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he expects “the greatest ethics from our police officers and gendarmes,” after asking the government to develop a proposal for how to improve the code of ethics for officers. But he added that he did not want to “harm the credibility and dignity” of officers. A few months later, on March 8, young feminist activists marching on International Women’s Day were attacked by police and dragged down steps by their hair.

For some, the latest protests suggest awareness about police brutality and racism in France is growing — and they are cautiously optimistic. “There have already been big movements that gathered a lot of people but nothing changed,” says Hajer. “What counts for me is that a lot of people who used to not come out, now are. People who did not speak up before, now speak out.”

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the situation?

The protests follow a series of violent incidents by police officers enforcing lockdown measures. France implemented a strict lockdown on March 17 to curb the spread of COVID-19. Over 160,000 police officers were deployed to ensure that the lockdown was respected. (Lockdown measures began to be eased on May 11 with some schools and businesses opening and fewer restrictions on movements.)

Videos of heavy police presence in poorer neighbourhoods and a disproportionate use of force targeting the black and Arab communities flooded social media. In one video, police officers painfully hold Sofiane Naoufel El Allaki, a 21-year-old Amazon worker, on the ground for having forgotten his mandatory lockdown release form. Naoufel El Allaki said he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a result and has asked the police watchdog organization to open an investigation.

Police brutality became an even bigger topic of discussion when artist Camelia Jordana said black and Arab people are being “massacred” by police officers during lockdown on a TV show on May 23. Christophe Castaner, the French Minister of the Interior took to Twitter, calling Jordana’s words “untruthful and shameful” and a police union filed a complaint against the singer.

But Assa Traoré amplified Jordana’s message by launching #MoiAussiJ’AiPeurDevantLaPolice (I am also afraid in front of the police) on Twitter, where users shared their instances of police brutality on social media.

“It is in these forms of resistance that there is hope,” Rigouste says. “There is another society being born in this resistance.”