On 9 June, Paris held a rally against racism at the statue on the Place de la Republique in the wake of the George Floyd protests in the United States. Tara Pilkington reports.
On 26 May, the French media reported complaints from the families of four 14-year-olds who were arrested by police when they went into a grocer’s to buy sweets and drinks.
Before being released 24 hours later, they reported that while they were held in custody that they were abused as “stupid Maghrebians” (a reference to the north African region including Algeria) and “faggots”. They also reported that a police officer told colleagues to “put the two blacks together” and that they were accused of a number of unrelated crimes.
Following the news of George Floyd in the US, the spotlight is on police racism on French citizens who have been accused of breaking lockdown rules, where ethnic-minority citizens disproportionately the victims of heavy fines.
To coincide with George Floyd’s funeral in the US, rallies were held in Paris where demonstrators carried banners calling for justice for Adama Traore, who died in French police custody in 2016.
In response to pressure from campaigners, it’s been reported that Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has said that he would ban police chokeholds and make more officers wear cameras.
