Protesters controlled in Paris because of their skin color?

• "The police in France: T'es Blanc? You pass. Are you black? You do not pass, "says the legend of a video viewed more than 50,000 times on Facebook. It shows police officers who seem to be preventing black men from leaving a metro station, while all the other passengers are free to continue on their way.
• The scene was filmed in Paris on May 30, a few steps from a rally planned for undocumented migrants and prohibited by the Prefecture of Police.
• Contacted by 20 Minutes , the Prefecture of Police did not respond to our requests before the article appeared.

Police stationed at the exit of a metro station seem to provide a sort of regulation of the flow of passengers. But if the white people arrived at the top of the steps can continue to leave the station without hindrance, three black men are meanwhile guided towards a group - also exclusively made up of black men -, retained on the side by the forces of order.

"The police in France: T'es Blanc? You pass. Are you black? You do not pass. Images of Saturday before the Solidarity March ”, denounces the legend of this twenty-second video, viewed more than 500,000 times since it was posted on Facebook on Sunday, May 31.

These images were indeed filmed in Paris, on Saturday, May 30, near the "solidarity march" organized by several collectives in particular to demand "the regularization of undocumented migrants". A rally prohibited by the Prefecture of Police, because of the health risks run by the regrouping of more than ten people, but which all the same gathered more than 5.000 demonstrators (for the majority masked, at the request of the organizers),as specified by the Prefecture of Police to certain media.

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The video was shot on Place de la Madeleine, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, as we can check on Google Street View, where we find the same sign and the bus stop visible in the background.

Place de la Madeleine, on Google Street View; - screenshot / Google Street View

We also see briefly the police officers posted at the top of the steps and the group of black men held aside on a video filmed live by the Facebook page Lived, from 4'46 below.

Before being resumed on Facebook, the viral sequence was first broadcast on Twitter, as 20 Minutes was able to verify with Ali, the videographer having filmed the scene at 13:54 hours that day - metadata of as evidenced by the video - approximately 30 minutes before the official launch time of the walk.

Racial discrimination at the exit of the metro for demonstrating undocumented migrants in Madeleine, Paris. (Pbm technique I have 0 sound and I am made control at the end) pic.twitter.com/A6Ryue7Pdc

“I went to the demonstration and I got out of the metro, but before I even got outside, on the platforms, people were hesitant to go out. At the exit, the police checked all blacks. At the beginning, they asked them for their identity papers - which was also my case before I was let go - and they put aside those who did not have them. Then they started to put them aside immediately without asking them anything or checking their papers. This check was problematic because it was clearly carried out according to a skin color criterion, ”said the student.

As can be seen in the images filmed live on various Facebook pages (in particular at 18'58 below), a large cordon of police deployed in front of the Place de la Madeleine, near the Décathlon and Ikea signs , blocked access to the demonstrators - the metro passengers intercepted at their exit arriving them directly on Place de la Madeleine, behind the cordon.

"Similar scenes"

Contacted by 20 Minutes , “Graine”, a photographer with the collective of independent journalists La Meute, who was present in the gathering from 12 noon, added: “I did not see this scene in particular but full of similar scenes. From the start, the Brav-m [Motorized Violence Suppression Brigades] police surrounded the neighborhood and chased the undocumented migrants. They directly recovered those she considered demonstrators from the crowd, by going directly to pick up black people there, including in the queue outside the Ikea store. "

“Around noon, and for a good half hour or an hour, a dozen black people were stranded in front of the Pushkin cafe by the Brav-m, who were waiting for the CRS. At first, their identity was checked and then there were so many people that the police created a trap on rue Duphot, between Décathlon and Le Prêt à manger, ”continues the photographer.

For his part, after having filmed the exit of the Madeleine metro, Ali followed the group of black men while the police were guiding them towards the trap - as we have been able to verify on other unimportant images line: "Those who had their papers mostly came out of the basket on the Decathlon side, but I don't know what was going on for the others. During the three moments when I filmed what was going on, the police asked me each time to stop or leave, and my identity was checked several times. We formed a small group and ended up walking towards Opera, just after the police gassed previous groups of demonstrators there. "

Next, all the black and arabic people were sent in some locked place, where their ID got checked (they checked mine too cause I'm black) pic.twitter.com/g0isf5DHft

Joined by 20 Minutes , the Prefecture of Police did not respond to our requests before the article appeared. However, she said early Saturday afternoon that the police were mobilized in Madeleine to "enforce the ban" demonstration. At the end of the day, which ended in tear gas being fired on the Place de la République, the Prefecture of Police reported 92 arrests.

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• Police
• Demonstration
• Migrants
• Paris
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• Society