Paris police fire tear gas at protest of racial injustice
PARIS • Riot police fired tear gas Tuesday as scattered protesters in Paris pelted them with debris and set fires during an unauthorized demonstration against racial injustice and heavy-handed police tactics.
Several thousand people had previously rallied peacefully for two hours at the main Paris courthouse as global outrage over what happened to George Floyd in the United States kindled frustrations across borders and continents. The protesters also paid tribute to Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody.
Police had banned the protest because of coronavirus restrictions that had forbidden any gathering of more than 10 people.
As the demonstration wound down, police fired tear gas and protesters could be seen throwing debris. Two small fires broke out, and green and gray barriers surrounding a construction site were knocked over.
Tensions also erupted at a related protest in the southern city of Marseille. French protests sometimes degenerate into violence by a few rowdy demonstrators.
Thousands marched in Sydney chanting “I can’t breathe,” and expressions of anger erupted in multiple languages on social networks, with thousands of Swedes joining an online protest and others speaking out under the banner of #BlackOutTuesday.
Diplomatic ire percolated too, with the European Union’s top foreign policy official saying the bloc was “shocked and appalled” by Floyd’s death.
As protests escalated worldwide, solidarity with U.S. demonstrators increasingly. “When you refuse to treat the problem of racism … it leads to what we see in the United States,” said Dominique Sopo, head of French activist group SOS Racisme. “The case of George Floyd echoes what we fear in France.”
Floyd died last week after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. The death set off protests across America.
Protesters react during a demonstration Tuesday in Paris. Riot officers fired tear gas as scattered protesters threw projectiles at an unauthorized demonstration against police violence and racial injustice.