Government announces end of controversial technique along with other changes prompted by deaths people in police custody years before the George Floyd case.
France’s interior minister has announced that the nations’ police will abandon chokeholds and the technique will no longer be taught in police academies. The move follows a week of protests in France against police violence.
The demonstrations, which turned violent in some cases, were sparked by outrage over the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, but widened to include demands for action following the deaths of a number of people in French police custody.
« No one should risk their life during an arrest, » Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Monday as he announced the end of chokeholds, along with a number of other reforms for French police forces. He also promised a « zero tolerance » policy for racism within the police.
Following the January death of a Parisian delivery driver in police custody, a commission was established to draw up a set of reforms. As protests against Floyd’s death went global this week, French president Emmanuel Macron asked that the commission finish its work and release its proposals.
