Police brutality occurs when the law enforcement, be it police or correction facilities, use excessive, unnecessary, and unwarranted force. It is an unlawful, criminal form of police misconduct or violence, and is a civil rights violation. This includes, yet is not limited to, physical or verbal harassment, physical or mental injury, damage, and in some cases, death. It is very important to understand police brutality, and this blog will have a focus on France, and in particular what we can do to combat police brutality.
Rémi Fraisse
Rémi Fraisse was born in Toulouse and was a French botanist involved in nature conservation. When protesting against the construction of the Sivens Dam, he was killed by the explosion of an OF-F1 stun grenade. The projectile was fired by an officer of the Gendarmerie, and the Fraisse family is pressing charges against the officer.
There was fighting between the police and the protesters. According to eyewitnesses, Fraisse felt outraged by the brutality and oppression and ran towards a skirmish (an episode of irregular or unpremeditated fighting). The stun grenade fired by the police killed him instantly, and his body was collected a few minutes later by the authorities. After he died in 2014, there was a social and political crisis, with riots in Toulouse, Albi, Gaillac, Nantes, Paris, and Dijon. The government at the time was criticised for initially not commenting on the death. Yet Bernard Cazeneuve, Minister of Interior, denounced the family for blaming the police.
An internal police investigation initially cleared the officer, stating he had made the necessary warnings. Unfortunately, this is the harsh reality – many officers are never arrested. After an appeal to the decision in 2018, the judges decided that the police officer did not fire the stun grenade with the intention to kill. It has not been questioned that the policeman shot the grenade, but because they did not see an intention to kill, there were no repercussions for the officer.
Adama Traoré
Adama Traoré has been named the ‘French George Floyd’ since his death triggered riots and protests against police brutality in France. He was a Black French man who died in custody after being restrained and apprehended by the police. After fleeing the police three times, Traoré was pinned down to be arrested. Traoré stood up on his own, but officers claim he was in some sort of physical distress. After a 3–4-minute journey to the nearest police station, they realised that Traoré was unconscious, but he was allegedly still breathing. The pompiers arrived and within an hour Traoré was declared dead at the scene.
A cause of death was very difficult to find despite four autopsies. Initially, experts argued it was either suffocation after the police pinned him to the ground, other underlying medical conditions, or hyperthermia caused by the heatwave. Others suggested the possibility of the presence of drugs in his body contributing to his death, but an initial toxicology report on his vomit was negative for marijuana and alcohol. The official medical report eventually listed heart failure as the cause of death. A second autopsy commissioned by the Traoré family, however, listed asphyxiation from sustained pressure as the cause of death.
Once again, an internal police investigation exonerated the officers. His death sparked major protests in Paris, Lyon, and Toulouse under the slogan Justice pour Adama (Justice for Adama). The protests styled themselves after the American Black Lives Matter movement, and similarly focused on the grievance voiced that Black and Arab communities in France suffer disproportionately at the hands of the police.
Cédric Chouviat
Cédric Chouviat was using his cell phone while driving his scooter near the Eiffel Tower in 2020. Chouviat mocked the police officers, calling them “clowns” and “fools.” The officers began to insult and mock Chouviat – one officer threatens to arrest Chouviat for his insults, while another is recorded shoving Chouviat. Videos show that after arresting Chouviat, three officers pinned him to the ground while another put Chouviat in a chokehold. During the arrest, Chouviat is recorded as stating “Stop”, “I'm Stopping” and repeatedly stating “I'm suffocating.” This incident was documented in a minimum of 13 videos, filmed by Chouviat, bystanders, and even one from the police officers involved.
A judicial inquiry was opened for involuntary manslaughter, and the police opened an investigation into the death. The Chouviat family’s lawyers released statements, saying that, “France isn't the United States, but France is becoming like the United States.” This was in regard to the exceedingly high rates statistics of police brutality, which is remarkable in the US. Once again, the death was compared to the killing of George Floyd, “You have a citizen who's asking to live and is a victim of injustice and violence to the point of losing his life. Its copy-paste.”
The death of Chouviat was specifically referenced by French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner when he announced a ban on the use of chokeholds during police arrests in early June 2020, but after a string of protests from French police, the ban was removed weeks later.
Michel Zecler
CCTV footage published by the news website Loopsider shows Zecler being kicked and punched for several minutes by three officers at his Paris studio on 21 November. A fourth is later seen throwing a tear gas canister into the building. The incident reportedly began with a dispute over whether the 41-year-old producer was wearing a face mask, as required during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition to the "intentional violence" charge, all four officers are accused of forgery. That charge relates to the police report filed after the incident, which said "a strong smell of cannabis" had emanated from Zecler and that he resisted a search. At the weekend, prosecutors said the officers had admitted that their violence against Zecler was unjustified. A French judge has placed four police officers under criminal investigation over the beating of a black music producer at his studio in Paris earlier this month.
Macron said the footage of the three police officers beating up Zecler was “unacceptable” and “shameful.” The incident has led to fresh scrutiny of the security forces. French media reported that a presidential official had described President Macron as being visibly upset by the incident. President Macron said proposals were also needed to fight more effectively against all types of discrimination. "Those who apply the law must respect the law. I will never accept that the gratuitous violence of some stains the professionalism of the men and women who work courageously to protect us in our daily lives," he said.
Conclusion
While the unions say such incidents should be treated as isolated one-offs, others, such as researcher Jacques de Maillard, point to structural problems within the institution. The outbreak of violence shows once again how essential transparency is when it comes to the police. There are structural problems in terms of recruitment, training, philosophy, and management. It takes a lawyer many years of hard studying to learn the law, and yet the police academy is much quicker. The problems are exacerbated in the Paris region due to the demographics. The question of racism is also an issue: police officers are not all racist, of course, but their working conditions can lead them to adopt negative stereotypes about minority populations, which result in discriminatory practices. Although the institution is extremely hierarchical, police officers perform many actions and activities daily without any oversight from their superiors. This leeway can be very positive, but it can also lead to serious abuses.