Under a radiant sun, several hundred demonstrators responded, this Friday afternoon, to the call launched by Assa Traoré to gather in front of the Paris court, on the second and last day of his defamation trial.
The anti-racist activist is being pursued by the gendarmes who arrested her brother, Adama, before his death in 2016 at the Persan gendarmerie (Val-d'Oise).
The soldiers accuse him of having accused them by name of having killed his brother, in a column entitled "J'accuse…!"
".
But unlike the day before, the defendant did not appear at the opening of the hearing, at 1:30 p.m.
She would have been unwell in the morning, according to her relatives.
To read alsoAt his defamation trial, Assa Traoré "clearly assumes" his platform "I accuse ...!"
On the court forecourt, Sabrine, 23, buys a T-shirt flocked with the slogan “Justice for Adama” for 10 euros.
“Assa is fighting a difficult fight, psychologically and physically.
We are there to support her, to relieve her, ”assures the 23-year-old Parisian student.
“It's a symbolic trial.
If Assa Traoré is found guilty, then the police will feel legitimized to commit violence, ”explains Marie, a 25-year-old student employee, who came especially from Chartres.
"We must stand up as one man against the impunity of the gendarmes, and the dictatorship of the strongest", launches Paulo (pseudonym), 32, anti-racist activist from Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne ).
“There had been an anti-racist revolution.
There, they are making a counter-revolution ”
“Support for Assa Traoré”, “Justice for Adama”, “No justice, no peace”, can we read on the signs. Youcef Brakni, right-hand man of Assa Traoré in the collective La Vérité pour Adama, takes the floor to announce that "Assa Traoré will arrive, even if she is ill". "We must remain mobilized", launches the geographer, who testified the day before at the hearing, as a witness called by the defense. “Here even, last June
(Editor's note: in 2020, during a previous mobilization, very followed, at the initiative of the Adama collective)
, there was an anti-racist revolution. There, they are making a counter-revolution. This trial against Assa Traoré is a nationalist, patriotic leap! "
Paris, this Friday.
Several hundred sympathizers came to support Assa Traoré in court.
LP / Olivier Corsan
"Yes, the gendarmes killed my little brother"
It is around 3:30 p.m. this Friday, when Assa Traoré shows up in front of the crowd. “Yesterday, we attended the trial of the Adama Traoré affair ahead of time. Defamation is not the problem. The problem is knowing if the gendarmes killed my little brother! », She blurted to the cheers of the crowd. Her platform, she "assumes 1000%". She persists and signs: “Yes, the gendarmes killed my little brother. And justice is doing everything to condemn his sister. […] For all the people who will hinder the manifestation of the truth, I will lengthen the letter
J'accuse…!
and their names will be exposed. The gendarmes are cowards, who did not dare to come and face the gaze of Assa Traoré! ".
After his walkabout, Assa Traoré goes to the hearing, to attend the plea of his lawyer, Me Yassine Bouzrou. The court's decision has been reserved. It will be returned on July 1, 2021.
