France has unveiled reforms that include banning the controversial chokehold technique of arrest, amid a string of protests against racism and police brutality.
The killing of unarmed and handcuffed African-American George Floyd by a white police officer in the United States late last month has sparked protests against racism and police brutality in the US and elsewhere in the world, including in France.
In response, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced on Monday that the chokehold method “will be abandoned.”
“It will no longer be taught in police and gendarmerie schools. It is a method that has its dangers,” he said at a news conference.
Castaner stressed that there would be “zero tolerance” for racism in the police force, and that officers strongly suspected of racism would be suspended.
He also promised that the use of police body cameras would be boosted.
The death of another unarmed African-American, Eric Garner, in 2014 after a US police officer executed the chokehold technique on him during arrest sparked the global “Black Lives Matter” protest movement against racism and discrimination. Garner famously repeated the phrase “I can’t breathe!” as he lay on the ground and as the officer refused to loosen the chokehold on him.
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