Protest in Paris against police violence on the eve of the legislative elections

About 200 people gathered this Saturday in Paris to protest a provision on the use of firearms by law enforcement, after the death of a woman by police shooting, an event used in the legislative election campaign – whose first round is held tomorrow – for the leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

The Killer Police collective, of relatives of people who have died or been injured in police actions, was one of those who organized this protest in Republic Square to demand the repeal of an article of the 2017 law on security inside.

A few hundred meters from the call, which took place without incident, there were at least a dozen police vans, who did not intervene.

“We are here because a young woman, who was a passenger in a car, that the police said did not want to stop at a checkpoint and was shot by three police officers. The woman is dead and the driver is injured,” a person in charge of a “committee for truth and justice in Lamin Dieng” told Efe, who died in 2007 after being arrested by the police.

Another of the protesters pointed out, along the same lines, that it was about denouncing “police violence” and “the fact that the police can kill with impunity without being held accountable to justice, that the police can shoot civilians like this.” for free”.

One of the organizers wanted to take advantage of the context of the legislative elections that are being held this Sunday in France so that “the parties that are on the side of justice, that fight against state racism, can at least repeal article L435-1 ″.

Behind this call is the death on the 5th by officers of a woman who was co-pilot in a car that refused to stop at a police checkpoint in the 18th district of Paris, north of the city.

The driver, a repeat offender, did not have a permit, and was also injured in the chest. He has been charged with attempted murder by the police, among other charges, and is in custody. The agents, after being questioned, were released without charge while the investigation progresses.

Mélenchon unleashed a political controversy in the middle of the campaign, first by posting a message on his Twitter account last Tuesday in which he denounced this police action in very harsh terms and blamed the Government, and then in an interview.

The leader of the leftist coalition criticized “another unacceptable abuse of power” that in practice means “the death penalty for not obeying.” He stated that “the police kill” and that there is a “disproportionate use of violence.”

That triggered a harsh response from various members of the government and the extreme right, who accused him in particular of denigrating the police.

Article L435-1 allows law enforcement officers to use their weapons “in case of absolute necessity” when their physical integrity or that of other people is in danger.

In particular if, after having issued warnings, they are unable to stop a vehicle that skips a police checkpoint and that could pose a threat to security by fleeing.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.