The protests in the United States against racism and police violence have inspired similar demonstrations across the Atlantic, from Amsterdam to London to Paris and Marseille.…
The protests in the United States against racism and police violence have inspired similar demonstrations across the Atlantic, from Amsterdam to London to Paris and Marseille.
More than 20,000 people came out in the French capital Tuesday, despite a ban on gatherings due to the coronavirus.
They shook their fists and yelled « pas de justice, pas de paix! » — « no justice, no peace! » — in front of Paris’ main courthouse. But the name the crowd chanted wasn’t George Floyd. It was Adama Traoré.
In July 2016, Traoré, a French black man, died in police custody in a suburb outside Paris. Although there is no video, many in France believe that, like Floyd, Traoré was asphyxiated by police. None of the police who interrogated Traoré have been arrested. French protesters said it is time their country wakes up to its own legacy of police brutality and impunity.
« Tonight this fight is no longer just the fight of the Traoré family, its everyone’s struggle, » yelled Assa Traoré, Adama’s older sister. « We are fighting for our brother, in the U. S. George Floyd, and for Adama. »
Assa Traoré founded the organization « Justice and Truth for Adama, » which is trying to prove that Traoré died of asphyxiation after undue police force. The circumstances of the death of the 24-year-old Frenchman of Malian origin are still under investigation after four years of conflicting medical reports about what happened.
She said it is time « to lift the curtain on the racism in a country where police operate like a mafia and with total impunity. »
Tuesday’s protest was not the first against police violence and Traoré’s death. But until this week, the Traoré case had not widely resonated outside of activist circles, according to French sociologist Mathieu Zagrodzki.
