In front of the Paris court, an impressive crowd gathered to answer the call of the family support committee of Adama Traore.
“Today, it is no longer just the fight of the Traoré family, it is your fight with all of you (…). Today, when we fight for Georges Floyd, we fight for Adama Traoré ”, said Assa Traoré, older sister of Adama (a 24-year-old black man who died in 2016 after his arrest), in front of demonstrators who chanted “Revolt”. The whole thing is visible in many videos shared on social networks. On the panels, the letters "BLM", for "Black Lives Matter " ("black lives matter") were written down.
Braving the ban imposed by the Paris prefect of police, thousands of demonstrators, 20,000, gathered in front of the Paris court, answering the call of the family support committee of Adama Traoré, according to the AFP. A week after the death of George Floyd, 46, asphyxiated by a police officer during his arrest in Minneapolis (United States).
Tuesday morning, the prefecture of police had announced that the demonstration was not authorized because of the state of health emergency which prohibits any public gathering of more than ten people, because it had not been the subject of no prior declaration ”.
The demonstrators were made up of young people in general but also of the “yellow vests”, always according to AFP.
For Assa Traore, spokesperson for the "Truth for Adama" committee behind the rally, there is a "denial of justice" in this case which, for its defenders, has become a symbol of police violence.
"What is happening in the USA echoes what is happening in France," she said.
While three forensic expert reports have dismissed the responsibility of the gendarmes, an expert report ordered by the family, released on Tuesday, says the opposite.
"Death follows an asphyxia syndrome. Asphyxia syndrome follows a cardiogenic edema which follows a positional asphyxia induced by ventral plating", concludes this expert, pet-on read in Ouest France.
Me Yassine Bouzrou, lawyer for the Traoré family, indicated that he had just added this expertise to the file: "It has the same legal value as that ordered by the judges. It demonstrates, in any case, that there is sufficient charges for a trial to be held and for there to be an adversarial debate on these various expert opinions. "
As for the demonstration, eighteen people were arrested, the police headquarters told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday morning.