Nearly 2,000 people marched on Saturday, August 3 in Nantes in tribute to Steve Maia Caniço and to denounce the police brutality. The young man found drowned in the Loire Monday had disappeared after a controversial police intervention, on the night of June 21 to 22, during the Music Festival in Nantes.
"Everyone hates the police," chanted the protesters early in the rally. Some of them went directly to the police who, according to the police, proceeded to 33 "preventive arrests". Tension rose a notch in front of the prefecture, where police used water cannons and fired tear gas canisters.
The procession continued its way beyond the prefecture, in the district of the cathedral. Two barricades have been set up and fires burning, AFP journalists said.
Coming from the Tarn in carpooling, four women, "mum or grandmas", explained why they had made such a trip, going to Nantes for the first time: "If we do nothing, all our children are in danger. "said Rita, retired.
#France Huge demonstration against police violence in #Nantes. #JusticePourSteve
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"I left work at 6 pm Coming up to here is a budget, but it's nothing compared to the family of young Steve," adds his friend, Elizabeth, home living assistant. "It's shocking to attack young people here, they did not bother anyone" on Wilson's Wharf.
A minute of silence and jets of flowers
Earlier, hundreds of people paid tribute to Steve Maia Caniço near where the body of the young man was found Monday in the Loire. The demonstrators applauded the deceased before observing a minute of silence.
Bouquets of flowers in hand, white or pink flowers thrown into the river, flags with the symbol of "peace", signs "where is justice for Steve" behind a big banner with the portrait of Steve and the Registration "Forbidden to live", young parents with strollers, children by bike, people of all ages have expressed their willingness to pay tribute to the extracurricular animator, disappeared during the Music Festival on the banks of the Loire The intervention of the police that evening also raises many questions among the participants.
"The police killed Steve, pushed by the forces of disorder", "I loved music, I loved life, my name was Steve, I wanted to live, but they killed me", with a photo of smiling young man, "Who killed Steve?", the participants, with their banners or placards, have no words strong enough to call the police or the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner.
Steve's death "was a personal shock," says 25-year-old Clementine, who came by bike and, like everyone interviewed by AFP, refused to give his last name.
While specifying having "gendarmes and soldiers" in her family, this young Nantaise intends to "protest against police violence". "We club people who are having fun, we send them lachrymos, we send dogs (...) Me, I respect the police but their job is to keep people safe, not to put them in danger". "There, we talk about a repression of social movements that extends to everyday life and it takes a different scale," she says.
"We are trying to smother the case"
For Hugues, 42, from Derval (Loire-Atlantique), an hour's drive from Nantes, "the more people there will be, the more pressure there will be to get the truth (...) the impression that you are trying to smother the business, no one is ever responsible, "he says.
Ludovic came from Lyon especially for this event. "Steve has become a symbol of police violence," said the 42-year-old amateur photographer. "Steve, Adama Traore, Yellow Vests, everything is connected," he says.
Asked about the family's willingness to accept only "friendly, artistic and peaceful support," Ludovic answers: "the best example is that this march goes well, and smoothly, to respect the family". "I have never thrown anything at the police except for the names of birds, but unfortunately they are the ones who make people violent," he says.
Marie-Annick, 62, lives in Trentemoult, opposite the Wilson wharf, on the other bank of the Loire: "It's a shame to send teargas to young people who were celebrating the music festival," comments woman carrying a sign on which is written: "We are getting used to the intolerable", a phrase diverted and written initially at the beginning of the week in a tribune by elected LREM about actions carried out against permanences of the majority.
Asked about the survey of the IGPN (Inspectorate General of the National Police) that does not establish a link between the police intervention and the drowning of the young man, Marie-Annick replied: "It's crazy, we can not to have no hope with these people ".
With AFP