- Title: Police converge at Paris' Arc de Triomphe to protest government line
- Date: 14th June 2020
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 13, 2020) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) POLICE CARS PARKED AND POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF ARC DE TRIOMPHE IN PROTEST BONNET OF POLICE CAR, AUDIO OF SIRENS HEARD POLICE STANDING BY POLICE CARS POLICE CAR WITH SIREN ON / POLICE VANS WITH SIRENS ON POLICE ON MOTORBIKES, BY PARKED POLICE CARS (SOUNDBITE) (French) POLICE UNION (UNITE SGP POLICE) REPRESENTATIVE, JOSIAS CLAUDE, SAYING: "By coming back here we want people to know that the police are fed up, the police are tired, we're tired of being stigmatised, we just want to get on with our work, normally. This afternoon you might have seen at the Place de la Republique rally that colleagues were attacked, we had several injured this afternoon, so enough is enough. At some point the message from politicians has to be coherent with what they expect from their police force." POLICE CAR WITH FLASHING BLUE LIGHTS IN FRONT OF ARC DE TRIOMPHE VARIOUS OF POLICE WATCHING CARS DRIVE PAST BLUE LIGHT FLASHING ON POLICE CAR POLICE CARS PARKED BY ARC DE TRIOMPHE POLICE CARS PARKED BY ARC DE TRIOMPHE, WITH CROWD OF POLICE PROTESTING IN DISTANCE CROWD OF POLICE GATHERED IN PROTEST, MANY WEARING FACE MASKS HANDCUFFS ON GROUND POLICE GATHERED IN PROTEST POLICE ARM BAND POLICE GATHERED IN PROTEST
- Embargoed: 28th June 2020 01:39
- Keywords: Arc de Triomphe French police protesting George Floyd police cars police protest
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA001CI7E4AV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Dozens of police cars converged at the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris on Saturday (June 13) in defiance of the government, days after authorities promised "zero tolerance" for racism within law enforcement staff.
Dozens of vehicles roaring their sirens and flashing blue lights parked in front of the monument, where intense unrest had taken place in December 2018 at the beginning of the "yellow vests" anti-government protests.
The French police had already marched in protest along Paris' Champs Elysees boulevard to the interior ministry on Friday (June 12).
A wave of anger has swept around the world after the death of George Floyd, an African American who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes while detaining him on May 25.
Floyd's death sparked debates worldwide over police behaviour and in France in particular, where accusations of brutal and racist treatment of residents of often immigrant background by French police remain largely unaddressed, rights groups said.
Riot police fired tear gas and charged at pockets of violent protesters at an anti-racism rally in central Paris on Saturday.
(Production: Benoit Tessier, Yonathan Van der Voort, Helena Williams) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None