Protest in Paris banned after riots over deadly police capturing of minor

By Reuters: Paris police banned a protest on Saturday in opposition to violence by pressure, every week after France was rocked by riots sparked by the killing of a youngster in a suburb of the French capital.

The Paris police division mentioned in a choice printed on its web site that it had banned the deliberate demonstration on the Place de la Republique over dangers to public order, citing a “context of tensions”.

French authorities and politicians, together with President Emmanuel Macron, have denied institutional racism throughout the nation’s regulation enforcement businesses.

The police got here underneath scrutiny after the June 27 deadly capturing by a police officer of Nahel M at a visitors cease. The 17-year-old was driving a sports activities automobile and not using a licence.

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Saturday’s protest was referred to as by the household of Adama Traore, a Black Frenchman who died in police custody in circumstances much like the killing of George Floyd within the US.

The demonstration in opposition to alleged police violence and racial discrimination was initially deliberate as a march in Beaumont-sur-Oise, one other Paris suburb, the place Traore died in 2016. But this had already been banned by native authorities, citing an elevated threat to public order and safety.

The ban was upheld by a courtroom on Friday, prompting the decision for a gathering in central Paris as an alternative. Left-wing leaders, together with the LFI parliamentary group chief Mathilde Panot, had mentioned they’d be part of the gathering.

It was not instantly clear whether or not the organisers would problem the brand new ban by the Paris authorities.

Further demonstrations over Nahel’s killing are deliberate in a number of main French cities over the weekend, together with in Marseille and Strasbourg.

A policeman who prosecutors mentioned acknowledged firing a deadly shot at Nahel is underneath formal investigation for voluntary murder.

His lawyer has mentioned the officer had aimed on the driver’s leg however was bumped when the automobile drove off, inflicting him to shoot in the direction of his chest, and had not meant to kill {the teenager}.

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Separately, the French international ministry on Saturday denied a UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) allegation of racial discrimination and extreme use of pressure by French regulation enforcement officers.

The UN physique had mentioned on Friday that France ought to make it a precedence to deal with “the structural and systemic causes of racial discrimination, including in law enforcement”.

“Any accusation of systemic racism or discrimination by law enforcement in France is unfounded”, the international ministry mentioned, echoing comparable statements it has made beforehand.