French civil society organizations call for street protests against police violence

Around fifty organizations (unions, associations, collectives and political parties) in France have launched a call to take to the streets again in a united march on September 23, to demonstrate against “systemic racism” and “police violence.”

“We are calling to take to the streets again on Saturday September 23, to organize demonstrations or other initiatives across the country, to stand together against the repression of social, democratic and ecological protest, for an end to systemic racism and police violence, and for climate and feminist social justice and public freedoms,” the organizations note in a statement.

The murder of young Nahel, shot at point-blank range by a police officer during a traffic stop on June 27 in Nanterre (Paris region), has once again shed light on what needs to stop: “systemic racism”, “police violence”, and “the social inequalities deepened by Macron’s policies”, they write.

In particular, they criticize “a neoliberal policy imposed by authoritarian methods, security laws and a doctrine of policing decried even in the highest international bodies, a regressive policy that breeds the far right and tramples ever more on our public freedoms, our social model and our future in the face of ecological collapse.”

In particular, these organizations are calling for an ambitious public investment plan in working-class neighborhoods, and “an in-depth reform of the police force.”