Following the prefectural ban, announced late Thursday evening, of the march commemorating the death of Adama Traoré, the administrative justice of Val-d’Oise is examining this Friday the appeal of the Adama committee.
The march was to be held on Saturday in the towns of Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise to mark the seventh anniversary of the death of Adama Traoré during an arrest in 2016.
But, arguing the tense context following the death of Nahel, killed by a policeman, the prefect Philippe Court justified his decision by possible “serious disturbances to public order” caused by “disturbing elements”. In the process, the Adama committee, led by his sister Assa Traoré, indicated that he had filed an interim order to have this decision annulled. The hearing will be held at 3 p.m., the decision is expected at the end of the day.
An annual peace march
“It is not about public order, but about the political divide of the decades to come. Real lights and freedoms against reactionaries. The battle for freedoms is just beginning, ”tweeted Me Arié Alimi, one of the lawyers who filed the appeal on behalf of the collective.
On July 19, 2016, the 24-year-old black man died in the courtyard of the Persan barracks, about thirty kilometers north of Paris, shortly after his arrest by gendarmes after a chase. As part of its mobilization, the collective “Vérité pour Adama” brings together hundreds of people each year on the occasion of a march to demand the indictment of the gendarmes in question, and to denounce more widely police violence.
Each year, the procession wanders in a militant but uneventful atmosphere, ending with a rap concert in a park. Many unions, organizations and political parties are expected to attend this year, following the emotion aroused by the death of Nahel M. The latter’s mother is likely to join the event.
“A sign of authoritarianism” for some, the fear of breakage for others
In a petition signed before the prefectural ban, 200 local elected officials from Val-d’Oise called on the authorities not to authorize the march. “We will not accept more provocations and additional damage in our municipalities, our intermunicipalities, in our department,” they declared.
Conversely, multiple trade union, political and associative organizations denounced in a common text the decision of the State. “This measure constitutes a real provocation and a new attack on the freedom to demonstrate, while also being an obvious sign of authoritarianism,” they said in a press release.