A rally at the call of the Black African Defense League (LDNA), banned by the authorities, led to the arrest of two people on Place de la Concorde in Paris on Saturday, said the police headquarters.
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Despite the prefecture's ban, a hundred demonstrators rallied against racism and for " the emancipation of Africa ", noted an AFP journalist on the spot.
In addition to the two arrests, the security forces carried out numerous identity checks and verbalizations. Some demonstrators also sat for several hours on the ground to express their intention not to leave the scene. Despite some tensions during the afternoon, the rally was dispersed calmly around 5:00 p.m. by CRS and gendarmes from the intervention platoon.
Close to the square, rue de Rivoli, temporarily closed, has been reopened to traffic.
“ There are mobilizations everywhere, in all countries! Explain to me why, (...) as soon as we arrive, we have a welcoming committee, we are prevented from mobilizing, we are prevented from demonstrating, "denounced Isa, an LDNA activist who prefers to stay anonymous but denounces the police " offense of facies ".
The rally, which was not declared and was planned to take place near the US embassy, had been banned by the police headquarters because of the risk of " disturbing public order ".
The Black African Defense League wanted to demonstrate in particular " against negrophobia " and in memory of George Floyd, who died at the hands of the police in the United States.
About a thousand people also participated on Saturday in another demonstration in Paris, this time in memory of Lamine Dieng. This 25-year-old Franco-Senegalese died 13 years ago, after an arrest. These mobilizations come in the context of denunciations of " police violence ", reactivated in France by the committee Adama Traoré, young black man who died in July 2016 after his arrest by gendarmes in the Paris region.
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