REPORTAGE
As the funeral of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died during his arrest by the Minneapolis police, began on Tuesday in the United States, new rallies were held in France, and in particular in Paris. This is the third meeting in a week, since the large gathering on June 2, which mobilized some 20,000 people, Porte de Clichy.
8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence
In the early evening, on Place de la République, in Paris, the crowd made a very symbolic gesture: put one knee on the ground, and be silent for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the time that the agony of George Floyd. "It was totally unbearable for me to watch the video all along," said Mariama, who came to pay homage to the man who has become the new symbol of racism and police violence in the world. "But I will be there to share the silence of each one, to share his agony with him through my presence here," she continues. "We hope that, wherever he is, he can hear our silence screaming very, very, very loud."
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Political leaders like Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI), Olivier Faure (PS) or Yannick Jadot (EELV) also knelt.
"What we want in France is a better police"
If the rally was intended to pay tribute to George Floyd, he also had the watchword as a protest against police violence. A message carried by many political parties, unions and associations present on the spot, like SOS Racisme, created in 1984. "In France, we are concerned with racism in the police and it is a subject which is not not arouse contempt or fear, "says Saphia Ait Ouarabi, president of the association which has the slogan" Touche pas à mote ". "What we want in France is a better police, because both citizens and police deserve it," she adds.
"The objective of this gathering is to show that French youth are mobilizing and are at the heart of this subject," concludes the president of SOS Racisme. "There is a movement that is emerging in awareness in the country against the horrible contamination of racism, where we would not want to see it, in an important body, the police," added Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came to demonstrate with several leaders of his movement. "We must end the denial. The national police must be taken over."