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The police caught it on video. Protests and riots fueled by long-running tensions over law enforcement’s treatment of minorities. accountability demands.
Events in France that followed the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old by police in a Paris suburb contrast the racial reckoning in the United States galvanized by the killings of George Floyd and other people of color by law enforcement.
Despite the differences between the two countries’ cultures, police forces and local communities, the Shooting in France The protest that broke out there this week showed how the United States is not alone in its struggle with the regime racism And Police brutality.
“These are things that happen when you are French but of foreign descent. We are not considered French, and they only look at the color of our skin, where we come from, even if we were born in France,” said Tracy Ladje, an activist with SOS Racisme. “Racism within the police kills, and many of them espouse far-right ideas so… this has to stop.”
In an editorial published this week, French newspaper Le Monde wrote that recent events are “reminiscent” of Floyd’s killing in 2020 by a white police officer in Minneapolis, which led to months of unrest in the United States and internationally, including in Paris.
“This act was committed by a law enforcement officer, filmed and broadcast almost live, and a symbolic representative of a class suffering from social discrimination participated in it,” the newspaper wrote.
The French girl, identified only as Nahil, was shot during a traffic stop on Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. A video clip showed two officers at the car window, one of whom pointed his gun at the driver. When the young man stepped forward, the officer fired once through the windshield.
Nahl’s grandmother, who did not give her name, told Algeria’s An-Nahar television that her family had roots in Algeria.
The officer charged with pulling the trigger was charged with first degree murder, though that did little to quell the riots that spread across the country and led to hundreds of arrests. The officer said he feared the car might hit him and his colleague or someone else as he tried to flee, the plaintiff said.
Officials did not disclose the officer’s gender. His lawyer said he did what he thought was necessary for the time being. Speaking on French TV channel BFMTV, the lawyer said the officer was “devastated,” adding that he “really didn’t want to kill.”
Nael’s mother, who has been identified only as Mounia M, told France 5 television that she is not angry at the police in general. She is angry at the officer who killed her only child.
He saw a little boy who looked Arab. She said, “He wanted to commit suicide.”
Police shootings in France are significantly less common than in the United States, but they have been on the rise since 2017. Many experts believe this relates to a law loosening restrictions on when officers can use deadly force against drivers after a series of attacks. terrorists using vehicles.
Officers can fire on a vehicle when the driver is not complying with an order and when the driver’s actions are likely to endanger their lives or the lives of others. French police have also been regularly criticized for their violent tactics.
Unlike the United States, France maintains no data on race and ethnicity as part of its doctrine of colorblind universalism – an approach that claims that all are equal citizens. Critics say the doctrine has hidden generations of systemic racism.
Paul Hirschfeld, director of the criminal justice program at Rutgers University, said of France: “I can’t think of a country in Europe with long-standing or more virulent problems of police racism, brutality and impunity.” Hirschfeld has published multiple papers comparing policing and killing practices in America to those in other countries.
Experts said the video of the shooting – which appeared to contradict initial statements by police that the youth was driving towards the officer – prompted commanders to quickly condemn the killing. French President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting “unforgivable” even before the officer was charged.
This is nothing new for the Americans, who even before the excruciating shots of The death of George Floyd I watched many videos showing violent confrontations with police under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, which were often taken by witnesses and sometimes contradicted the police’s initial statements.
I have never seen a case in which the Home Secretary was so quick to condemn the shooting. In previous killings, there had been disturbances, but no video. “It changes everything,” Hirschfeld said.
Police in France usually undergo training that lasts 10 months, which is a long time compared to many American cities, but one of the shortest training requirements in Europe.
However, experts said they do not believe French police are receiving training equivalent to the tacit bias training required of many American police officers as an effort to improve policing in diverse communities, although many American critics have questioned the effectiveness of the training.
France and other European countries have a growing population of Africans, Arabs, and Asians.
If you are in a country with a colonial past, it carries a stigma. And if that’s painful enough that you can’t handle this conversation about race, then of course you don’t have relevant training for officers,” Stacy Casey, co-founder of the Police Justice Center, which serves as the United Nations’ international expert mechanism to advance racial justice and equality enforcement. the law.
Bertrand Cavallier, former commander of the French National Gendarmerie Training School, said French law enforcement should not be judged by the actions of a single officer.
This is a case of a police officer who made a mistake that he shouldn’t have done. But he was arrested, and I think that should be a clear message of the will of the government.



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