A demonstrator in Republic Square on SaturdayImage AFP
Several politicians also took part in the protest despite the ban. A number of trade unions and organizations have called on their members to demonstrate anyway. Two protesters have been arrested, Reuters news agency reports.
The ban comes a week after first Paris and then cities across France were rocked by days of rioting over the death of 17-year-old Nahel. The boy of Algerian descent was shot dead by a police officer at close range on June 27 in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre at a traffic control.
Many saw Nahel’s death as yet another example of racism in the French police. On Friday, a UN commission against racism, CERD, accused the French police of structural racism and excessive force, something that was immediately denied by the French foreign ministry.
The demonstration on Republic Square had been called by the relatives of Adama Traoré, a black man who also died from police violence in 2016, under circumstances that resembled the controversial murder by a police officer of the also black George Floyd in the United States.
It was intended as an alternative to a march against police brutality and racism that should have taken place in Traoré’s memory in Beaumont-sur-Oise, the Parisian suburb where Traoré was killed.
A protester holds a sign reading ‘Abolish the police’ as people gather to protest racism and police brutality in Toulouse.Image AFP
That march was banned by local authorities because of the risk of disturbances, a measure that was confirmed by a French judge on Friday. “While violence has subsided in recent days, we cannot (…) assume that all risks of public disorder have disappeared,” the judge said in a statement.
Memorial marches for Traoré are taking place in dozens of other places in France, including Lille, Marseille, Nantes and Strasbourg.
Read also
2023-07-08 17:48:45
#thousand #Parisians #streets #protest #police #brutality #ban
