Bobigny (AFP)

The death of the American black George Floyd gives new echo in France to those who denounce police violence targeting minorities and accuse the authorities of being in "denial".

Despite a prefectural ban, at least 20,000 people responded Tuesday in Paris to the call of the family support committee of Adama Traoré, a 24-year-old black man who died in Val-d'Oise in 2016 after his arrest.

The Paris police prefect decided to take legal action against the unauthorized rally.

This rally was an unprecedented popular "success", say activists and associations engaged in the fight against police violence.

But they hope "more" and want to impose lasting "police violence" in the public debate while the executive refutes the very use of the term.

In France, "we live in denial. All those who denounce racist police violence are thrown into the media. Politicians and ministers are stepping up to protect the corporation," said Amal Bentounsi, member of the Urgence collective. our police murder.

"The French do not dare to position themselves on the subject for fear of being accused of anti-cop, anti-republican, except that in France, we have George Floyd," says the activist.

The president of SOS Racisme Dominique Sopo denounces "the racism which crosses the police force as in the United States". "We are in a doctrine of arrest and not of the protection of the population and we end up having police officers who can treat an Egyptian with" bicot + "[during an arrest in Ile-Saint-Denis in April] ".

- "Black sheep" -

Violence, discrimination: in support of their words, activists and associations recall that in November 2016, in an unprecedented decision, the Court of Cassation sentenced the State on the basis of appeals from thirteen people of African origin who denounced unwarranted police checks, sometimes associated with palpation and insults, in the La Défense business district, near Paris.

"You have to punish the bad apples", argues Youcef Brakni, of the Truth for Adama committee, with in his sights a reform of the police force, a claim brought by some politicians, from Senator EELV Esther Benbassa to deputy ex-LREM , Aurélien Taché.

Wednesday, before the Senate, the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner wanted to be "uncompromising" by promising that "each fault, each excess, each word, including racist expressions" among the police, would " subject to investigation, decision, sanction ".

The day before, the Paris prefect of police and the director general of the police (DGPN) had stepped up to defend the integrity of their troops. "No, the police in France are not racist," dismissed DGPN Frédéric Veaux with the back of his hand.

Out of some 1,500 judicial investigations entrusted to the police in 2019, only around thirty would relate to acts of racism or discrimination which call, where appropriate, "the most severe sanctions", he said, warning against attempts at "recovery" and "analogies" with the United States.

For researcher Mathieu Zagrodzki, "there are differences between these two countries" in particular "in the relationship to violence, the circulation of firearms and the mandate given to the police," he explains. in the weekly Marianne.

"In France, the police injure a lot, but they kill little. The American police kill more than a thousand people per year, for 320 million inhabitants. The police and the gendarmerie in France, about twenty", advance M. Zagrodzki, author of a work on these two policies.

Former police officer and president of the Agora association of citizens, police and justice, Christophe Korell calls for renewed dialogue, especially in the cities.

"We have lost proximity to these citizens because we have cut 90% of the population who live there because of the 10% who form a delinquent nucleus," said Mr. Korell, ex-judicial police officer.

If he does not deny that the police are faced with problems of racism, this is the case for "all of French society". Neither more nor less, according to him.

"We have police officers who have a year-round nose in social misery. The police sometimes find it difficult to get out, to take a step back. From this arises the danger of generalization."

His solution? "Training, at school and throughout the career, and psychological support".

© 2020 AFP