More than 90 organizations classified on the left, including EELV, LFI and Alternatiba, are calling for “citizen marches” this Saturday in France. They demand “immediate measures” from the government “to get out of the confrontation”.
By CT with AFP – 06:58 | updated at 07:09
Unions, associations, collectives, political organizations… Some 90 organizations classified on the left, including LFI, EELV, CGT or Solidaires, are calling for “citizen marches” this Saturday throughout France and the overseas territories. They believe that the country “is in mourning and angry” since the death of Nahel in Nanterre on June 27 and that this tragedy has “exposed the effects of decades of discriminatory and security public policies targeting in particular working-class neighborhoods and youth. who grows up there.
By organizing these citizens’ marches, they intend to mobilize “for the maintenance of public and individual freedoms” and call on the government to take “its responsibilities”, according to a press release shared by several personalities and organizations. A gathering is notably planned in Strasbourg (place de la République at 10 a.m.), in Dijon (place de la République, at 2.30 p.m.) or even in Vénissieux (Vénissieux station, at 3 p.m.).
Which are the signatory organizations?
Among the organizations calling for citizens’ marches, there are several political organizations, including EELV, LFI, the left party or Génération.s, but also unions, including the CGT, the FSU, the UNEF, the Student Union and the Syndicate of Lawyers of France. 28 associations have also signed this appeal. We find in the signatories Alternatiba, Amnesty International France, the human rights league but also SOS Racisme and Greenpeace France. Finally, several collectives, such as the Truth and Justice Committee for Adama or local Earth Uprising committees, joined the call.
What are they asking for?
The organizations demand that the government “provide immediate responses to end the confrontation”. Among these is the repeal of the law of 2017 on the relaxation of rules on the use of firearms by law enforcement. But the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has already evacuated this possibility Wednesday before the senators. The unions, associations or political parties are also demanding an “in-depth reform of the police, their intervention techniques and their armament” as well as the replacement of the General Inspectorate of the General Police (IGPN) by an independent body from the police hierarchy and political power.
They also want “the creation of a service dedicated to discrimination affecting young people within the administrative authority chaired by the Defender of Rights”.
What is the government’s position on these marches?
Government spokesman Olivier Véran accused France insoumise (LFI) of “putting oil on the fire”, with this call for “citizen marches”. “You have a party, insubordinate France, which for the past week has been constantly justifying, year after year, the fact that people want to challenge, including by resorting to social violence”, a criticized on LCI the minister.
“At a time when almost the entire political class is mobilizing to heal our wounds and think about the future, part of the political class is calling for demonstrations, to take to the streets,” he lamented, adding that “when we talk about adding fuel to the fire, here you have the most obvious demonstration of it”. He added that it was up to “prefects to decide whether they authorize or prohibit these gatherings” on Saturday.
What about the march in memory of Adama Traoré?
Seven years after the death of Adama Traoré, a young black man who died shortly after his arrest by the gendarmes in July 2016, a memorial march was planned for Saturday afternoon in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise, north of Paris. But the prefect of Val-d’Oise banned it on Thursday and his decision was confirmed Friday evening by administrative justice, seized urgently by Adama’s older sister, Assa Traoré.
The prefecture asked “the organizers to respect this court decision and to call publicly not to go to the scene”.
In a video message posted on Twitter, Assa Traoré confirmed that “there will be no march (Saturday) in Beaumont-sur-Oise”. “The government has decided to add fuel to the fire” and “not to respect the death of my little brother”, she accused, evoking “a total lack of respect” and calling it a “pretext” the argument brandished by the prefect of a shortage of law enforcement to secure the procession.
But this figure in the fight against police violence has not given up on demonstrating: Assa Traoré indicated that she would be present “Saturday at 3 p.m. Place de la République” to shout “to the whole world that our dead have the right to exist , even in death.
However, she did not directly call on her supporters to join her, which could have been likened to the organization of a wild and therefore illegal demonstration.
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