In France, tension rises after around thirty demonstrations against police violence are announced around the country.
The protests are a result of the authorities stopping an annual march in memory of a black man who died during a police intervention in 2016.
A large number of demonstrations against police violence have been announced in France on Saturday after the authorities banned an annual memorial march for a young black man who died in 2016 during a police intervention.
The march in 24-year-old AdamaTraoré’s name, which is organized every year by his older sister Assa Traoré, had been planned to be held on Saturday in the suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise, north of Paris.
But after the violent riots that rocked the country last week, a court decided on Friday to ban the march due to the tense situation.
Following the announcement, Assa Traoré, in a video on Twitter, instead called on people to gather at the Place de la République in central Paris to protest police violence on Saturday afternoon.
“I will shout to the whole world that my brother has the right to exist,” she says in the video.
About 30 demonstrations are planned
During Saturday morning, however, it was announced that the announced demonstration in Paris, which has been called “a march for justice”, has been banned by the French authorities, writes Le Monde.
Despite the ban, the organizers state that the demonstration will be held as planned. Another thirty protests against police violence have been announced in cities such as Lille, Marseille, Nantes and Strasbourg during Saturday.
Ahead of this year’s memorial march for Adama Traoré, several French trade unions and political parties had called on supporters to participate.
A number of left-wing politicians, including Antoine Léaument, have also announced that they will participate in Saturday’s demonstration at the Place de la République – despite the ban.
17-year-old’s death sparked riots
The issue of police violence that has been burning in France for many years came to the fore once again after a 17-year-old boy was shot dead in the Paris suburb of Nanterre at the end of June.
The 17-year-old’s death was the starting point for the violent riots that shook a large number of cities around the country for six nights and where over 1,300 people were arrested.
The incident also led to the UN calling on the French authorities to ban racial profiling in a statement. The statement has been heavily criticized by France’s foreign ministry, which called the accusations “exaggerated” and “groundless”.
FACT of incorrect first picture
Two motorcycle police officers stop a car in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on June 27 and the 17-year-old driver, named in French media as Nahel, is shot at close range in the chest and dies.
The police initially stated that the shots had been fired because the 17-year-old was driving the car towards the officers, but a video clip that is spreading on social media shows that the police’s first version is not correct.
“You’re going to get a bullet in the head,” one of the two motorcycle police officers is heard shouting in the clip. They stand next to the car and the gun is aimed through the driver’s seat window. The driver accelerates away – then a shot goes off. The car accelerates rapidly and crashes into a pole some distance away. The driver dies shortly afterwards.
The 38-year-old police officer who is seen holding the gun in the clip is later arrested, suspected of the corresponding murder.
The shooting death has revived the debate about police violence and discrimination against residents of low-income areas of France.
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