A class-action lawsuit against the French police over their systematic racist practices

Paris-Sana

Six human rights organizations launched a collective lawsuit today against the French government due to its racist and systematic practices of discrimination by French police officers while they are verifying the identities of people of brown, African or Arab origins, in a first step of its kind towards the French authorities.

The Associated Press reported that human rights organizations have provided Prime Minister Jean Castex and the French Ministers of Interior and Justice with formal legal notice to demand concrete steps and law enforcement reforms to ensure that the ethnic classification of people arrested by the police is not determined.

In turn, the main lawyer in the case, Anton Leon Caen, said, “This legal procedure does not target specific persons in the French police, but rather the system followed by these persons, whose laws, customs and culture give rise to racist discriminatory practices,” adding that “the defects that the French state suffers from in terms of systematic practices The response and the reactions must be addressed. ”

For his part, lawyer Salim Ben Achour told the Associated Press that "French law gives the authorities four months to hold talks with NGOs about their claims and demands, and in the event that one of the parties withdraws from the talks, then the case will be brought to court."

The issue of systematic racial discrimination by the French police over the past years has been exacerbated by several practices. The practice of the French police, during which they verify the identity of people who are mostly of African or Arab descent and who live in poor residential places, is not the only one of its kind. The abuse of this measure by the police is the most widespread racial symbol in the country.

Critics believe that police misconduct has left the authorities unchecked, and the organizations seek reforms rather than financial compensation, especially changes in the law that governs identity checks, noting that the French authorities do not miss an opportunity to speak out in defense of the values ​​of freedom and human rights outside their territory and the agent of accusations to their opponents. Politicians under the pretext of those rights.