- Title: "Respect our police" - wives of French officers berate government
- Date: 27th June 2020
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (French) ACTIVIST AND FORMER MUNICIPAL COUNCILLOR FROM SOCIALIST PARTY, ZOHRA BITAN, SAYING: "Look at the the stories that we're being told, that they (anti-police movement) try to tell us. What are they selling to us, those who say the police are garbage, that policies are garbage, and so on? But what is on the other side of a republic? It's straight to a dictatorship, nothing else. Nothing else. So if these ideologies of hatred continue, you know very well that it's the republic that will suffer." WOMEN CLAPPING WOMAN HOLDING UP POSTER WITH WORD "POLICE" INSIDE A HEART PROTESTER WITH TAGE ON HER BACK THAT READS (French): "MOTHER OF POLICEMAN / NATIONAL POLICE, AND PROUD TO BE ONE" (SOUNDBITE) (French) DELPHINE BEWRDET, TREASURER OF ASSOCIATION OF WIVES OF 'ANGRY POLICE OFFICERS', SAYING: "Now we see a stigmatisation of a whole profession, which is real. Today, we're talking of an event (of the death of young man Adama Traore in a police operation), and then 'the police are racist', 'the police are violent'. I think it's a bit worrying to call into question an entire institution, because of some cases, which we are not calling into question. The courts are dealing with it, and it's not for us to do. Public opinion is not the justice system." POLICE OFFICERS ON STREET POLICE OFFICERS TALKING TO EACH OTHER (SOUNDBITE) (French) Jerômne Barde, SUPPORTER OF 'ANGRY POLICE OFFICERS', SAYING: "A lot of people are afraid to say that they support the police, because it is not politically correct. The Leftists are saying that all those who support the police could be fascists, we know the rhetoric. I think it's a big part of it (for the incitement of hatred)." SUPPORTERS APPLAUDING
- Embargoed: 11th July 2020 15:53
- Keywords: French police anti-police rhetoric police violence racism support for police
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Fundamental Rights/Civil Liberties,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002CK59JK7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Several dozen women rallied in support of French police in central Paris on Saturday (June 27), as discontent within the country's law enforcement agencies swells over what they feel is the government's unfair treatment of officers over racism.
Police have been holding protests everyday in towns and cities across France against the government's attempts to change their practices and punish officers suspected of racism.
Police unions accuse the government of scapegoating them for deep-rooted social ills in an attempt to quell public anger after the killing of George Floyd unleashed protests in France as anger at police violence and racism swept the world.
The protests in France have centred around Adama Traore, who died in police custody in circumstances similar to the killing of Floyd.
Traore was celebrating his 24th birthday on July 19, 2016, when three police officers used their weight to restrain him. By the time he arrived at the police station, he was unconscious and could not be revived.
Many among the women protesting outside the Paris police headquarters were wives and partners of officers. Some said the stigma against police was unjust.
One carried a message for Interior Minister Christophe Castaner: "Respect our police."
Castaner infuriated police this month when he acknowledged there were cases of racism in the force and proposed punishing any officer guilty of "proven suspicions of racism."
Hundreds of police protested on Friday night outside Paris' Bataclan concert hall, where 90 people were killed in an attack by Islamist militants in 2015.
(Production: Antony Paone, Michaela Cabrera) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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