In Paris, a white march demands “justice” for the two brothers killed on the Pont-Neuf – Liberation

Several hundred people marched this Wednesday in the north of Paris, ten days after the death of two brothers during a police check. The family declined to comment.–

“Boubacar and Fadjigui” : these first names are on all the white T-shirts distributed at the start of the rally, this Wednesday in Paris. Participants ask “justice for our brothers”, claim “rest in peace”, or promise: “we will not forget”, “forever in our hearts”. The flocking fills the silence of the hundreds of participants in the white march in tribute to the two brothers, aged 24 and 31, killed during a police check on April 24 on the Pont-Neuf in Paris. The procession set off from Place Henri-Matisse, in the 20th arrondissement, where they lived, to reach Rue de l’Orillon, near where they grew up, crossing the working-class district of Belleville.

At the bend of a schoolyard, a kid watches, open-mouthed, the silent march in which young people take part in jogging or in kamis, women, elderly or preceded by strollers. As the crowd has just reached the end of its route, an old man interferes. He asks questions, but a minute of silence has just begun. He bursts into tears when he understands, in a whisper, the cause of the gathering. This ends with invocations, in Arabic, and in tears, from the crowd.

“It was like war”

The family, present, did not wish to speak. Issa, a cousin, who launched the call for the rally on social networks, becomes a spokesperson: “Belleville is a small neighborhood, a small village. Almost all the people in the procession know each other, many have rubbed shoulders” the two victims. Beyond geographical proximity and relatives, it is also a fight that brings together those present: a yellow vest from the Oise injured in April 2019 by the truncheon of a commissioner, collectives fighting against police violence, families of people killed by the police, such as the aunt of Souheil El Khalfaoui (killed in August in Marseille), or Assa Traoré, Adama’s sister, who died in 2016 after his arrest.

“It could have been me, or any of us” : this twenty-something, cap backwards, who does not want to say his name broods over his anger. He was close to Boubacar and Fadjigui. It makes : “We have pain, hatred, and incomprehension.” He claims to have already experienced violence from the police. “But there, we shot two deer, lets go of his buddy, same age, and same desire to remain anonymous. It was like war.” A reference to the weapon used by the police officer who fired the shots: an assault rifle. These young people do not believe the version of the police, who assure that the two brothers tried to overthrow them to escape control.

A young policeman “not trained enough”

If it is to pay homage to them that she has come, Edwige “Think also of this policeman, and his parents”. Member of a group of mothers from Belleville, she believes that the young 24-year-old agent, “not trained enough”, didn’t have to carry such a weapon. At this stage, he is indicted for “voluntary homicide”, “violence having caused death without intention to give it”, et “intentional violence”(concerning a third occupant of the car, wounded by the shots).

The lawyer representing the firm which defends the family of Boubacar and Fadjigui, Me Bérénice Hahn de Bykhovetz, only declared that “The facts of April 24 plunged the family into immeasurable pain. Contrary to what has been said in recent days, the indictment for intentional homicide is perfectly logical and justified. One could no longer wonder about the lack of placement in pre-trial detention in such a case. From now on, the only thing the family aspires to is the manifestation of the truth”.

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