Who is organizing this tribute to Georges Floyd and the victims of racism?
In Dijon, like everywhere in France and around the world, a tribute will be paid on Tuesday June 9 to George Floyd, a black man killed in Minneapolis by a white policeman Derek Chauvin.
The police choked the victim by pressing his neck with his knee for more than eight minutes. The scene was filmed on May 25 by passers-by. Since then, these images have aroused a wave of indignation around the world and led to numerous demonstrations.
In Dijon, the rally on Tuesday June 9, 2020 will take place at 6 p.m., Place de la Liberation, “respecting the rules of distancing and sanitary”, indicate the organizers.
It is a group of associations, unions and anti-racist organizations that is behind this “tribute to Georges Floyd and the victims of racism“.
The collective notably includes the MRAP (Movement against racism and for friendship between the people), LDH (League for Human Rights), SOS Racism, Amnesty International Dijon, ATTAC, etc.
What are the watchwords of the gathering?
The organizers’ watchwords are:
– “the rejection of racism in France with multiple origins,
– support for undocumented migrants and workers who demand their regularization after being among those who have experienced the worst working conditions and confinement.
– the denunciation of police violence which targets people on their faces, treated first as potential offenders
-rejection of conceptions of policing contrary to the rights of citizens
-the commitment to fight against all discrimination “.
The BlackLivesMatterDijon account is finally created, peaceful actions (demonstrations …) will be carried out, it’s happening here in Dijon! Follow and share. The fight against all hatred, discrimination and racism is so important. SHARE !!!!
– BlmDijon (@blmdijon) June 4, 2020
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“What worries us is a certain impunity for racism by the institutions”, Explains Paul Garrigues, co-president of the Dijon section of the Human Rights League, interviewed by France 3 Bourgogne.
“I am thinking of a woman, an asylum seeker, who was checked by police who were very hostile. She had a few perfume samples on her. They accused her of stealing them and they tore up her residence permit. It turns out that this lady was helping out with a charitable organization which certified that she was the one who had given the samples to the asylum seeker. we made a report to the public prosecutor, but nothing happened. “
That said, adds Paul Garrigues, “There are perfectly decent police officers with black or North African people and there are others who are not. We do not want to say that all the police would be violent or racist, because that is not true.
We are told “move on, there is nothing to do” and that is what is worrying – Paul Garrigues, co-president of the Dijon section of the League for Human Rights
On the other hand, what worries us, in Dijon as in France in general, is that when there are slippages, there is no follow-up that is given by the prefecture and the prosecutor. We are not even answered, it is “move around, there is nothing to do” and that is what is worrying.
In other professions, there may be slippages in national education, health, etc. For example, if a nurse is accused of ill-treatment of the sick, professional unions and management will try to understand.
What is serious is that, when there are cases with the police – whether it’s the interior ministry, the prefecture or the unions – all systematically cover up acts of violence. It seems to us at the root of the problems of police violence in the country“, concludes the co-president of the Dijon section of the League for Human Rights.
In several cities in France, demonstrators marched in homage to George Floyd as well as to Adama Traoré, who died 4 years ago, on July 19, 2016 at the Persian gendarmerie in the Val d’Oise.
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