The prefecture of the French department of Val-d’Oise (Île-de-France region), announced on Thursday that it will ban the march planned for Saturday to mark seven years since the death of Adama Traoré, who died during a police stop in 2016.
Traoré has become an emblem of police violence as the divisive topic again grips the country following the death of 17-year-old Nahel and the riots that followed.
“Following the contradictory procedure initiated with the 'Truth for Adama' committee, the prefecture bans the demonstration and gatherings planned for Saturday 8 July 2023 in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise”, the state services tweeted.
In June 2020, thousands of French protesters in Toulouse came out in solidarity with U.S. George Floyd Uprising & for #JusticePourAdama. Would be great to see similar solidarity in U.S. demanding #JusticeforNahel the 17 yo murdered by French policepic.twitter.com/bkO6M2g9Wt
— #StopCopCity (@ChuckModi1) July 3, 2023
On 19 July 2016, the 24-year-old black man died in the courtyard of the Persan barracks, some 30 kilometres north of Paris, shortly after being arrested by gendarmes following a chase.
Led by his sister Assa Traoré, the “Truth for Adama” collective gathers hundreds of people every year for a march in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise to call for the indictment of the four gendarmes accused, and to denounce police violence.
At midday, the prefecture had announced that it was “considering” banning the demonstration, citing possible “serious disturbances to public order” with the arrival of “disruptive elements”. Prefect Philippe Court gave the organisers until midday on Friday to submit their objections.
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Contacted by AFP, the “Truth for Adama” committee had no immediate reaction to the announcement of the ban.
“It’s a political decision to prevent the working-class neighbourhoods from speaking out about the deaths of Nahel and Adama”, Youcef Brakni, Assa Traoré’s right-hand man, told AFP in the afternoon, criticising “a desire to censor peaceful freedom of expression”.
