The Val-d’Oise prefecture announced on Thursday the ban on the march scheduled for Saturday for the seventh anniversary of the death of Adama Traoré, who died during an arrest in 2016 and erected as an emblem of police violence, in the context riots following the death of Nahel.
“Following the adversarial procedure initiated with the “Truth for Adama” committee, #prefect95 prohibits the demonstration and the gatherings planned for Saturday July 8, 2023 in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise”, tweeted the services of the State.
On July 19, 2016, this 24-year-old black man died in the courtyard of the Persan barracks, about thirty kilometers north of Paris, shortly after his arrest by the gendarmes after a chase.
“Disturbing Elements”
Led by his sister Assa Traoré, the collective “Vérité pour Adama” brings together hundreds of people every year on the occasion of a march in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise to demand the indictment of the four gendarmes implicated, and denounce police violence.
At midday, the prefecture had announced “considering” the banning of this demonstration, arguing possible “serious disturbances to public order” with the coming of “
“disturbing elements”. The prefect Philippe Court gave until Friday noon to the organizers to formulate their observations.
Each year, the procession of the commemorative march for Adama Traoré wanders in a militant atmosphere but without incident, to end with a rap concert in a park. Many unions, organizations and political parties were expected there this year, following the emotion aroused by the death of Nahel in Nanterre.
Joined by AFP, the “The Truth for Adama” committee did not react immediately to the announcement of this ban.
“It’s a political decision to prevent people from talking about the death of Nahel and Adama,” Youcef Brakni, Assa’s right-hand man, told AFP in the afternoon. Traoré, castigating “a desire to censor freedom of peaceful expression”.