Edouard Philippe sought this Tuesday to calm the controversy that swells over police violence by calling for "respect and trust" vis-à-vis the police but also to "the requirement", in a context of "very large Emotion and demonstrations after the death of George Floyd in the United States and Adama Traore in France.
The Prime Minister spent the morning in Evry (Essonne), where he first met police officers at the police station before going to a "citizen" association committed against racism. He was notably accompanied by the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, sent the previous day to the front line by Emmanuel Macron, himself pressed by the opposition to pronounce on this sensitive subject, to announce measures intended to improve the ethics of the forces of the order.
"Unacceptable" and "Monstrous" Images
Speaking for the first time on this subject since the start of anti-racism and police anti-violence demonstrations, Edouard Philippe recognized that the emotion was "very great, very legitimate, very shared" after the death of George Floyd, whose funeral was take place Tuesday in Houston, Texas, after his death on May 25 during his arrest in Minneapolis. The video images show "the death of a man in unacceptable and, frankly, monstrous conditions," said the head of government.
Gatherings in tribute to George Floyd are planned for Tuesday in many cities in France, after demonstrations which have already brought together thousands of people to denounce police violence also in France, in particular after the death of Adama Traoré, in 2016 during of his arrest.
A duty of "requirement"
Edouard Philippe stressed that the mission of the police and gendarmes, who "are on the front line" to "protect us all", was "frighteningly difficult". Because they are "confronted with tensions, with threats and risks". "We owe them respect and trust", as does "the vast majority of French people", but "we also have a duty to demand from them", he added.
The Prime Minister thus recalled, at the start of his speech, the need to respect the first sentence of the declaration of human rights: "men are born free and equal in law, free and equal in law". "It is the exact opposite of a society that would be based on belonging to a religion based on skin color or on distinctions that have nothing to do with this fundamental idea," he added. .
Interior announcements to counter racism
Christophe Castaner advocated Monday a "zero tolerance" of racism in the police, whose suspension will be "systematically considered for every suspicion proven" in the matter. In 2019, "around thirty judicial investigations were launched against the police on racist remarks," he said on BFMTV on Tuesday. The minister also announced the abandonment of the controversial police method of "grabbing the neck, known as strangulation", a decision that left police unions "skeptical".
After his visit to the Evry police station, Edouard Philippe acknowledged that certain police officers had expressed "their emotion and sometimes their incomprehension in front of a certain number of critics of which they are the object".
No discussions "in a tea room"
Just before the Prime Minister's speech, Adama Traore's sister held a press conference in Paris to demand "acts of justice" over the death of her brother, calling for a new demonstration on Saturday. "We are not asking that discussions take place in a tea room at the Elysée Palace," said Assa Traoré, declining the idea of a meeting with the Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet.
In Evry, Edouard Philippe also visited the premises of the Generation 2 association, for an exchange on civic engagement. "We must multiply the places of meeting with the police," said its president Aïsseta Cissé.
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- Racism
- Police violence
- Adama Traore
- George Floyd
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