French police protest on Champs-Elysées against allegations of violence, racism

French police have staged a second day of protests over claims of racism and violence in their ranks, accusing the Interior Ministry of failing to defend officers against allegations amplified by US unrest over the death of George Floyd.

Police unions marched down the Champs-Elysées on Friday, accusing the government of scapegoating law enforcement agencies as public anger over race discrimination swells.

There were numerous protests late Thursday across France following a meeting between police unions and Interior Minister Christophe Castaner meant to try and allay the discontent among police.

In the Paris suburb of Bobigny on Thursday, officers lined up outside a police station and placed their handcuffs on the ground. In Lyon, police parked their cars around the central Place Bellecour, blue lights flashing.

The unions accuse President Emmanuel Macron and his government of showing disrespect after Castaner on Monday promised “zero tolerance” for racism within law enforcement agencies and banned a chokehold used to detain suspects.

'No police, no peace' 

“Colleagues can't take this any more,” Fabien Vanhemelryck of the National Police Alliance told reporters after Friday's protesters arrived at the front gate of the interior ministry.

Police union vehicles in the convoy carried posters reading “No police, no peace”. Another contained graphic images of injuries sustained by police attacked in the line of duty, with the words: “Who is massacring whom?”

“We need to be protected, respected, supported. The police are never above the law, but they should never be left below the law,” Vanhemelryck said.

A wave of anger has swept around the world after the death of George Floyd, an African-American who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes while detaining him on May 25.

'Buying social peace'

The outpouring of emotion has resonated in France, in particular in deprived city suburbs where accusations of brutal, racist treatment of residents of often immigrant background by French police remain largely unaddressed, rights groups say.

Vanhemelryck said the police were being unfairly treated to calm the public. He said the unions told Castaner “to stop buying social peace...where we appease a certain part of the population at the expense of the police.”

A Black Lives Matter protest is planned in Paris on Saturday. Police urged restaurants, shops and businesses between the upscale Place de la Republique and Opera areas to close and board up their windows due to the risk of civil disorder.

(with Reuters)