March against racism and Islamophobia: more than 3,000 people marched this Sunday in Paris

The demonstration this Sunday April 21 brought together around 3,000 people, according to a police source. ILLUSTRATION ARCHIVE MAXPPP – Julien Mattia

Several thousand people marched this Sunday April 21 in Paris "against racism and Islamophobia" as part of a march targeting in particular “police violence”, which had been banned by the police prefect and then authorized by the courts.

There were around 3,000 demonstrators marching this Sunday April 21 in Paris as part of a march against racism and Islamophobia".

Marching behind a banner "Our children are in danger", the demonstrators left Barbès at the beginning of the ;afternoon at the call of around fifty organizations including La France insoumise, the NPA (New Anti-Capitalist Party), Attac and Solidaires. LFI deputies Mathilde Panot, Eric Coquerel and Danièle Obono were present.

"It was necessary to think of a mobilization outside of the white march and dramatic events" because "police violence is the most violent most serious that affect our children, those in the neighborhoods, poor, black or Arab children", Yassa Belkhodja, co-initiator of this march, told AFP. But "this violence is only part of the violence, there is daily violence", she added.

"Fed up with this two-speed justice"

"Our children are not cops' game", proclaimed white signs. On others, quoting Frantz Fanon, we could read "racism is a plague of humanity".

"We're tired of this two-tier justice", of "these looks when we leave our neighborhoods", these "searches, these crimes of facies", testified a demonstrator, Jennifer Kalam, a 44-year-old childcare assistant.

Like her, many demonstrators wore a keffiyeh in solidarity with the population of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army once again carried out deadly bombings on Sunday, notably on the town of Rafah. The demonstration took place more than six months after the start of the war against Hamas in the Palestinian territory, following the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas.

A demonstration initially banned

The demonstration was banned on Thursday by the police headquarters on the grounds that the denunciation "in its appeal of "police crimes" against young people" was "conducive to attracting components deliberately seeking clashes with the police’ quot;, at the risk of "disturbing public order".

Requested for interim relief, the Paris administrative court suspended this ban on Friday, ruling that it constituted "a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the freedom of manifestation".