Paris (AFP)
Thousands of people demonstrated Saturday to denounce racism and police violence in Paris and in several French cities, as well as in Switzerland, Australia and London, where the rally took place in a tense atmosphere in front of activists from 'far right.
The murder in the United States of George Floyd, a black forty-year-old asphyxiated on May 25 in Minneapolis by a white policeman, pushed the crowds to take to the streets to demand an end to police violence and racial inequalities.
In Paris, the police fired tear gas after receiving a few projectiles during a rally of several thousand people - 15,000 according to the police - on the Place de la République.
The demonstrators had planned to march to the Place de l'Opéra, but the unauthorized parade was stopped by the police.
During the rally, at the call of the committee Adama Traoré, young black man who died in July 2016 after his arrest by gendarmes in the Paris region, his sister Assa Traoré called to "denounce the denial of justice", "social violence , racial, police ".
In the crowd, many young people were dressed in a black T-shirt flocked with the request carried for four years by the Traoré family: "Justice". "Until we have justice, you will not have peace."
On June 2, the Adama committee had mobilized 20,000 people in Paris. His discourse has broadened, from the denunciation of police violence to that of "systemic racism", finding an echo after the death of George Floyd.
Other parades have taken place across France, such as in Bordeaux, Nantes or Lyon. A small counter-demonstration by the police subsequently brought together a few dozen people in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, with cars and beacons.
- "Unacceptable violence" -
In central London, thousands of anti-racist protesters gathered in a tense atmosphere, while far-right activists gathered near the parliament around statues they intended to protect.
Retweeting a video of far-right protesters attacking the police, Interior Minister Priti Patel denounced "utterly unacceptable violence" and called on protesters to return home to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.
Police said they had made more than 100 arrests after clashes between far-right counter-protesters and police. Six police officers were slightly injured.
The police had to carry out an "important" operation because there were "pockets of violence directed against our police officers," said the Metropolitan Police Service.
Television footage showed demonstrators hitting or throwing police bottles, as well as clashes between the two camps.
"Racist brutality has no place on our streets," said Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and "anyone who attacks the police will face the full force of the law."
While images of the unrest were widely disseminated on social media, Mr Johnson tweeted: "Racism has no place in the UK and we have to work together to make it a reality".
Although the Black Lives Matter movement canceled the planned demonstration in the center of the capital, several hundred people gathered in Hyde Park before heading to parliament. British police had asked them to follow a specific route and disperse at 4:00 p.m. GMT to avoid the risk of clashes with far-right activists.
The anti-racism association "Hope Not Hate" had warned that several groups of supporters of football clubs, as well as members of far-right movements like Britain First, were planning to rally to defend monuments such as the statue of the former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, near the parliament, degraded on the sidelines of demonstrations against racism last weekend.
The inscription "Was a racist" was tagged under the name of the famous conservative leader, accused of having made racist remarks, in particular against the Indians.
The Minister of the Interior asked that the statue of Churchill, sheltered in a metal box, be visible again. "We must release Churchill, a hero of our nation who fought fascism and racism in this country and in Europe," she told the Daily Mail on Saturday.
Thousands of demonstrators in Switzerland challenged the ban on the gathering of more than 300 people to prevent the spread of Covid-19. There were more than 10,000 in the center of Zurich, mostly dressed in black, waving banners proclaiming "Black Lives Matter" or "Racism is a pandemic too".
Several thousand people also participated in an unauthorized peaceful demonstration in Bern outside the Swiss government and parliament buildings in the capital.
In Australia, thousands of protesters marched against racism on Saturday in several cities, including Perth, despite the authorities' warning that the new coronavirus pandemic may resume due to the rallies.
© 2020 AFP