Brian White  |  January 28, 2021

Category: Legal News

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France’s national police force is being accused of systemic racism in a first of its kind class action lawsuit.

Three prominent human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Open Society Justice Initiative joined with various grassroots efforts to file a lawsuit on Wednesday that argues officers with France’s law enforcement agency discriminate against minorities on a regular basis, alienating large parts of French society, according to AP News.

The filing marks the first ever class action lawsuit to target policing in France, one that will be representing a large group of minorities, primarily second or third generation French citizens who are Black or Arab, according to AP News.

“It’s revolutionary, because we’re going to speak for hundreds of thousands, even a million people,” representing attorney Slim Ben Achour said.

The national nature of the French police force means the nation’s prime minister, interior and justice ministers are included in the complaint. 

The 145-page filing includes testimony from witnesses, including police officers, who report being subjected to the alleged racists checks, The Associated Press reports. 

Class Action Seeks Reform to Law Enforcement Practices

The class action lawsuit isn’t seeking monetary damages but rather demanding changes in policy. The plaintiffs say they want reforms to the current practice that doesn’t hold law enforcement accountable. 

Plaintiffs allege many of these stops have no record attached to them so they’re not trackable in the system. 

The class action lawsuit also seeks to change how police measure performance. Similar to some jurisdictions in the U.S., French police count arrests and citations. 

Stanislas Gaudon, a spokesman for a French police union, told The Associated Press his officers don’t discriminate and rejected the claims. 

“You know, police officers don’t get up in the morning thinking ‘I’m going to go out and check the IDs of people of Arab descent or Black people, or maybe Asian people or European people.’ No,” he said in The Associated Press interview.

The law in France is a two-stage process. After being served the complaint, the accused will have four months to settle the matter. If that doesn’t happen, the case advance to court. 

France’s President Emmanuel Macron called the issue of systemic racism by its police “unbearable” in December following a widely shared video documenting an incident in November. 

Soon after, a law was passed requiring officers to wear body cams.

The class action lawsuit follows a related case involving the New York City Police Department.

Black and Latino New Yorkers claim officers are stopping them solely because of the color of the skin. A judge eventually ruled the city’s police force had violated their civil rights, according to The Associated Press report. 

Have you experienced racial discrimination at the hands of police? Let us know in the comments below. 

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One thought on French Police Accused of Systemic Racism in Landmark Class Action

  1. clornelius patterson says:

    please add me

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