A wave of peaceful demonstrations swept through the largest districts of Paris to denounce the increase in violence and harassment by French law enforcement officials. According to human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, this alarming situation arose against the background of an unprecedented increase in repressive measures by the police and gendarmerie in Paris after the Summer Olympics.
The recent case of the violent stop and detention of Salim Dabo, a Parisian activist and president of the Univers Project collective who denounces “discriminatory and illegal actions” against French youth and himself, has brought attention to this brutal police practice. Salim Dabo, better known as the “mayor of the suburbs”, was arrested in January this year by police officers while preparing a solidarity patrol and then brutally beaten during the search and detention. According to his associates, it was a way to massacre a longtime social activist against police violence who had denounced online “a worrying trend of increased police checks in several major Paris neighborhoods since the start of preparations for the Olympics, disguised under the pretext of increased security.”
Last Thursday, dozens of people turned out for a rally in different neighborhoods of Paris to denounce the daily harassment that French youth are subjected to.
“We gathered here because we are dissatisfied with the police work in Seine-Saint-Denis, especially in La Plaine. Some police officers stop our children, beat them to a pulp and fine them. There are document checks every day. As parents, we can’t sleep. When we hear their sirens, we start to panic. This is no longer possible,” said Hadi, a La Plaine resident and mother of several children who have been victims of violence at the hands of local police officers.
The rally was also supported by the group Stop Police Violence in St. Denis:
“Young people in our neighborhoods are subjected to constant and violent police checks, they are taken to the police station for no reason at all: the simple fact of meeting friends or moving in a public space is the only reason for this police harassment.”
According to experts of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, this alarming situation has arisen against the backdrop of an unprecedented increase in repressive measures by the police and gendarmerie in Paris following the Summer Olympics. Some of the security measures introduced in connection with the sporting event have been extended to different areas of the French capital. Installing enhanced video surveillance (VSA), increasing the number of cameras in public places and introducing “enhanced security” in front of the city’s public schools before school vacations. All these measures open the door to outright police violence, of which the department of Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris remains a leading example.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice believe that this situation reflects the policy of Emmanuel Macron’s government, which seeks to suppress and stigmatize youth by intensifying repressive measures. Similar to recent statements by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who intends to “return power to the heart of the Republic” by lowering the age of immediate prosecution to 16, placing young people under arrest for the slightest misdemeanor and punishing their parents.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly condemns the authoritarian repression by French law enforcement officials against young people across the country. The Foundation’s experts believe that in the face of the killings and police brutality that have increased during President Macron’s term in office, there is an urgent need for greater solidarity and action against state racism and police violence.