George Floyd death: Several thousand rally in Paris anti-racism protest

Paris, June 13

Several thousand anti-racism protesters gathered in central Paris on Saturday to denounce police violence, as a wave of anger continued to comb the world following the dying of African American George Floyd.

The challenge has resonated in France, particularly in disadvantaged metropolis suburbs the place rights teams say that accusations of brutal remedy by French police of residents of usually immigrant background stay largely unaddressed.

One banner carried by the gang within the Place de la Republique learn: “I hope I don’t get killed for being black today”. Another carried a message for the federal government: “If you sow injustice, you reap a revolt.”

Large numbers of riot police had been current, however they remained at a distance in surrounding streets.

Assa Traore, sister of 24-year-old Adama Traoré, who died close to Paris in 2016 after police detained him, addressed the gang.

“The death of George Floyd has a strong echo in the death in France of my little brother,” she mentioned. “What’s happening in the United States is happening in France. Our brothers are dying.”

Traore’s household say he was asphyxiated when three officers held him down with the load of their our bodies. Authorities say the reason for his dying is unclear.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner earlier this week acknowledged there have been “proven suspicions of racism” inside French regulation enforcement businesses.

His remarks drew condemnation from police unions, which mentioned officers had been being scapegoated for deep-rooted social ills.

Police have held their very own protests in cities throughout France this week.

Ahead of the protest, within the ethnically numerous Paris suburb of Belleville, one man of Algerian descent mentioned he had been the sufferer of police violence however he doubted institutional racism ran by the power.

“I’ve been insulted, hit even. But the police aren’t all the same,” he instructed Reuters TV, figuring out himself as Karim.

“Unfortunately, this minority is hurting the police.” Far-right activists unfurled a banner studying “Justice for the victims of anti-white racism” from the rooftop of a constructing overlooking Place de la Republique.

Protests occurred in different international locations on Saturday, together with in a number of Australian cities, Taipei, Zurich and London. Reuters