"Adama has become a symbol but there are many others like him"

• On July 19, 2016, the 24-year-old young man died within the Persian gendarmerie in Val-d'Oise following a muscular arrest.
• In this file, medical expertise has succeeded without agreeing.
• The demonstration was banned by the prefect of police 

Neither the health risk linked to the coronavirus epidemic, nor even the ban on demonstrations taken at the beginning of the afternoon by the prefect of police, could not have dissuaded Ghyslaine and his friend Armel from joining this Tuesday evening , at the rally organized by the relatives of Adama Traoré, who died in July 2016 in the gendarmerie of Persan, in the Val d'Oise, two hours after his arrest. “With what is happening in the United States, I have the impression that there is an awareness of what we experience on a daily basis, of the racism of which we are regularly the victims from the forces of order, says the latter. Adama has become a symbol, but there are many others like him. "

In the early evening, incidents broke out on the sidelines of the demonstration. According to several sources, stone throwing, the burning of an American flag, barricades and the blocking of part of the Paris ring road will have marked the end of the demonstration.

Avenue de Clichy, the demonstrators begin to set up barricades, using bikes and scooters. The police, like the yellow vests, prevent leaving the perimeter around the area. # ViolencesPolicieres #Paris pic.twitter.com/r1c6C8yysX

An important security device, however, framed the more than 15,000 demonstrators, of all ages and from all origins, glued-tight on the esplanade of the Paris courthouse to peacefully denounce police violence. For Grace as for her husband, Olivier, this event is the first. But at the start of the demonstration, the two described a feeling of fed up with the abuses of which they were regularly the victims. He no longer counts the police checks, in the morning at 6 am when he goes to work, leaving the supermarket or simply because he is walking on the street. "Once, I came out of a hand training and a policeman targeted me with a flashball and told me your mouth, take out your papers", recalls this resident of Mantes-la-Jolie, in the Yvelines. "If we don't open it now, when the whole world is denouncing the violence, when will we do it?" And especially when will we be heard? "Says Danik, 22. The young man, who says he is passionate about American culture, dreams of going to live in the United States, but intends to lead the fight for equality in France. “We want the same rights, no more, no less, to be treated the same. Today, even if it is not politically correct, it must be said, a black will always be treated less well than a white. "

"When we fight for Georges Floyd, we fight for Adama Traoré"

Many before the court draw a parallel with the George Floyd case, this forty-something African-American who died in Minneapolis after having died for eight minutes under the knee of a white police officer. In the crowd, "Black Lives Matter" signs abound. "Today, when we fight for Georges Floyd, we fight for Adama Traoré", insists his older sister, Assa, recalling that his brother "carried the weight of the three gendarmes" before his death, which recognized one of the military. In the crowd, thousands of people chant "Stop racist crimes", "We do not forget, we do not forgive" or the controversy "Everyone hates the police".

IT'S HISTORY #JusticePourAdama pic.twitter.com/pyDPcY5dBk

Since the beginning of the case, the relatives of Adama Troaré are convinced that the ventral plating used that day, a technique of legal intervention but controversial led to a "positional asphyxia" which was fatal to him. But in this file, medical expertise has succeeded without agreeing. Friday, a new expertise proved them wrong. In their conclusions, the three doctors believe that the victim died "of a cardiogenic edema". Without being categorical about the origin of this edema, they consider that the association of a rare disease, sarcoidosis, a genetic pathology, a sickle cell trait, and a hypertrophic cardiology "could probably have contributed to it in a context of intense stress and physical exertion, under high concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol ”, the active ingredient in cannabis. But far from admitting defeat, the Traoré family indicated today that they had carried out, from other expert reports and medical documents, a new study whose conclusions would be the opposite: the ventral plating would be at the origin of asphyxia .

If in the crowd, this Tuesday evening, many admit being a little lost in the many twists and turns of this dossier, all of them admire Assa Traoré. "It is thanks to her energy and her determination that Adama is a symbol, she carries this cause", enthuses Djeneba, originally from Fresnes. The young woman hopes that the movement launched in the United States will find an echo in France. "We no longer trust the justice system, we are still talking about the United States, but it is the same thing here. A man dies in a police station but the police [they are actually gendarmes] are not even charged. "

Justice

Adama Traoré case: Justice refuses to organize a reconstruction of the conditions of his arrest

Society

Police violence: "The" people from below "say:" This police is not there for us ""

• Police violence
• Adama Traore
• Paris
• Justice