Nearly a hundred associations, unions and political parties classified on the left called this Saturday for “citizens’ marches” against police violence after the death of Nahel. In Paris, the Police Prefecture banned the planned rally in memory of Adama Traore, who died in 2016. The authorities justify this decision by the “tense context” linked to the riots that followed the death of Nahel, killed by a police officer in Nanterre .
Towards a new day of tensions in France? On Saturday, July 8, “citizens’ marches” against police violence are being called in several French cities, but the Police Prefecture has prohibited a rally in Paris in memory of Adama Traore.
Assa Traore, Adama’s sister and figure in the fight against police violence, had indicated that she would be present “on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at the Place de la Republique”, after the ban on the planned march in Persan and Beaumont- sur-Oise, in Val -d’Oise, in memory of his brother who died shortly after his arrest by the gendarmes in July 2016.
This announcement was quickly broadcast by left-wing activists and deputies from rebellious France, but Assa Traore, however, did not directly call on her followers to join her, which could have been assimilated to organizing a wild demonstration, so so illegal.
🚨🚨🚨Assa Traore denonce une interdiction indigne et irresponsible du gouvernement francais. It will be at 3:00 p.m. in place de la Republique Paris.
Il faut denoncer devant le monde entier cette atteinte à la democratie. Personne ne peut nous empêcher d’être libre! 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ybpXoeO5tp— La Verite Pour Adama (@laveritepradama) July 7, 2023
In its decree posted online shortly after 10:30 a.m., the police headquarters justifies the ban on “an undeclared gathering that presents a risk of disturbing public order.”
“Background to the Riots”
The decree, signed by Police Prefect Laurent Nunez, recalls the “tense context” and the “five consecutive nights” of urban violence in the Parisian region and in the capital, following the death of 17-year-old Nahel M., dead by a policeman during a roadblock on June 27 in Nanterre. A fact that is under investigation.
The police headquarters thus takes up the same arguments that motivated the ban decision taken on Thursday by the prefect of Val-d’Oise and confirmed on Friday night by the administrative court for the march in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise.
The emergency judges had justified their decision by “the context of the riots that followed the death of Nahel.”
The latter “considered that, although the violence has decreased in recent days, its extremely recent nature does not allow us to assume that any risk of disturbance of public order has disappeared,” the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise had argued.
The prefecture had asked “the organizers to respect this judicial decision and to call publicly not to go to the place.”
“These marches have always proceeded calmly. It is precisely the fact of banning them that can cause tensions, because people are angry, you have to understand that,” the LFI deputy for Essonne, Antoine Leaument, commented on BFMTV, later specifying in a Tweet. that he would go to the Place de la Republique.
“The only response given by the authorities after the murder of the young Nahel is an authoritarian response, order, a repressive response,” Patrick Baudouin, president of the League for Human Rights (LDH), also estimated in FranceInfo.
Marches marked by “mourning and anger”
Thirty other demonstrations against police violence have been listed across France on an online map, from Lille to Marseille and from Nantes to Strasbourg.
Nearly a hundred associations, unions and political parties classified on the left, including LFI, EELV, CGT and Solidaires, called these “citizens’ marches” to express “mourning and anger” and denounce policies described as “discriminatory” against Popular neighbourhoods .
These organizations, mobilized “for the maintenance of public and individual liberties”, demand “a deep reform of the police, their intervention techniques and their weapons”.
The government spokesman, Olivier Veran, criticized on Friday the organizations whose “only proposal is… to call demonstrations (…) on Saturday in the big cities that have not yet handed over the looting.” .
In particular, he pointed to the responsibility of elected officials, including those from the insubordinate France, who had called to join Beaumont’s banned march, accusing them of straying from the “republican arc”.
“If they are the republican arch, who do you want?” Jean-Luc Melenchon replied. “So much the better, we are left with the displeased,” concluded the leader of rebel France on Twitter.
Since June 27, more than 3,700 people have been detained in connection with these riots, including some 1,160 minors, according to figures from the Foreign Ministry, which reported nearly 400 incarcerations on Friday.
With AFP, original note
Source: France 24
