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Photo credits: AFP
On March 31, the independent newspaper Street Press revealed a new case of police violence, which took place on February 14 in Chartres. Diafara, a street educator, was gassed, humiliated, strip-searched, and kept in custody following the arrest of three residents in his neighborhood.
The facts took place in the evening, as explained Street Press : « On February 14, three local men chat next to a building that has been closed for months: Kevin, Fresh (1) and Metehan. The police come to check them. “They tell us: ‘Take your weed out of your pockets’,” says Kevin, 33. Fresh, his little brother, engages: “They took us for little ones who were dealing. “ From the top of his 23 years, Metehan, round face and fine beard, considers that it is “abuse of power”. They find a joint in the pockets of Kevin who fidgets and pushes the wandering hands away. »
Diafara and Angèle, two street educators, observe the arrest from afar, get closer and join the group to calm the situation. But the police do not want to stop there and, under the pretext of having found a joint in the pockets of one of the young people, decide to arrest them. They then tackle Kevin, one of the young people present, to the ground, one of the policemen is on his neck while another tases his thigh. [« Il m’a mis quatre ou cinq coups, ça m’a fait mal, comme une brûlure. » https://www.streetpress.com/sujet/1648736515-gaze-fouille-nu-menace-educateur-violences-policieres-racisme] says the arrested. During this time, another policeman gauzes the two educators, “I was sprayed three times at point-blank range, from head to toe,” explains Angèle. Residents, including a mother and her seven-year-old child, are also receiving gas.
After the tear gas, the horror begins for Diafara. He finds himself handcuffed and is taken away, with the three young people, while his white colleague remains on the spot. For Diafara, it’s clear, this is neither more nor less than a racist decision. During police custody, the humiliation reaches its climax when Diafara, not involved in the narcotics investigation, has to squat down to undergo a full search. ‘I hide my genitals a bit, I say it’s humiliating,’ he tells Street Press, while the police officers take pleasure in observing the scene. Moreover, the police will humiliate him throughout the police custody. ” You the educator, I’ll make you lose your job said one of the policemen, for example.
Following this case, several mothers in the neighborhood, for some spectators of the scene, decided to write and distribute a petition entitled ” Stop the Violence (free) to denounce the repeated checks, racism and violence of the police in the neighborhoods. The latter obtained more than 250 signatures.
In working-class neighborhoods, these scenes, these arrests and these humiliations are common and trivialized. The women behind the petition experience it almost daily, « Unfortunately, this is not the first time that such events have occurred, causing an atmosphere of insecurity in the neighborhood.”. Eleven-year-olds who we want to pick up because the music is too loud, dogs thrown around, young people who can’t go out without being grabbed by officers…” say the mothers in the neighbourhood. The police are used to attacking these neighborhoods. There are many cases of police violence, such as the case of Jean Paul, a motorist killed by a police officer in Sévran. Cases of police violence are increasingly brought to light, in particular thanks to the support of social networks and the image taken, but the police remain unpunished and continue to exercise violent repression against the inhabitants of working-class neighborhoods. Only mobilization initiatives will be able to obtain justice for the victims.
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