BLACK LIVES MATTER – EUROPE 2020

Paris, France

published on 10 June 2020

Photos by Roberto di Mola

Demonstrators in Paris, France. ©Roberto Di Mola

Paris, 2 June 2020: The demonstration in support of the family of Adama Traoré, a black boy died on 19 July 2016 in the barracks of the “gendarmerie” of Persan ( Val d’Oise), collected more than 20,000 people gathered outside the Court of Paris despite the prohibition of the (Prefecture). An appeal to demonstrate was launched in the previous days by the committee “Justice pour Adama” denouncing a “rejection of justice” in a case that became for its defenders the symbol of the fight against police violence: in four years, three medical investigations have denied the responsibilities of the “gendarmes”, then that a private one ordered by the family of Adama states the opposite.

The demonstration follows the spear in recent days of the hashtag #Moiaussijaipeurdevantlapolice and the assassination of the afro-American George Floyd’s in the US. Assa Traoré, sister of Adama, in an interview with Franceinfo said that the death of Floyd recalls that of Adama relaunching this link in another statement issued to BFMTV where he declares that “the indignation denounced in the United States is the same as what happens in France.” After a peaceful start marked by choruses and applause, the police used force to disperse the huge crowd, causing rioting for hours in the area surrounding the Tribunal.

Rome, Italy

Photos by Daniele Napolitano

During the Italian National Republic Day on the 2nd June, a group of women stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. The name of the group ‘Rete Donne Migranti e Figlie’, literally translating’ Network of Migrant women and daughters’ organised the protest in a significative place; by the monument that remembers the Italian deaths in the Battle of Dogali in 1887 during the Italian colonisation of Eritrea. On the group’s facebook page the aims of the protest are as follow: ‘June 2nd, 2020- there is nothing to praise. Today we celebrate the Italian Republic based on class, gender and race discrimination and on migrants’ exploitation and criminalization.’