The honor demonstration takes place a day before France goes to the polls in the first round of early elections, in which racism occupies a central place in the vote.
A year after a French teenager with North African roots was killed by a police officer, his mother led a march to pay tribute to her son that ended at the scene where he was shot dead without provocation.
Hundreds of relatives, friends and supporters gathered in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Saturday to remember 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, who was shot dead at point-blank range by a police officer during a traffic stop on June 27, 2023, a killing that sparked shock and days of unrest across France.
His mother, Mounia, spoke to the crowd and then burst into tears. Her friends wore white T-shirts with Merzouk's photo and residents of her housing complex held a banner that read “Justice for Nahel.”
The march ended at the spot where he was murdered and an imam sang and read a prayer. Although there was no visible police presence, organizers recruited guards to ensure the safety of the event.
The procession came at a politically tense time, with hate speech derailing the campaign for Sunday's early parliamentary elections. And when an anti-immigration party – which wants to increase police powers to use their guns and has historical ties to racism and anti-Semitism – leads the polls.
Merzouk's mother asked politicians to stay away from the demonstration to avoid tensions. “I don't have Nahel anymore. I just want justice for my son,” she told the crowd.
Assa Traore, 39, who has been fighting for justice since her brother, Adama, died in police custody in 2016, said: “This march is a powerful symbol.”
“It means that history cannot write itself without us. We, those of the working-class neighborhoods, are the first-hand victims of these elections. We realized from the beginning that the National Rally and far-right parties were a danger to our country and would weaken it,” said Traore, who has roots in Mali.
“Racial discrimination is part of our daily lives”
Reporting from Nanterre, Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith noted: “Nahel’s death fuelled the narrative that French police use excessive force and get away with it. The UN Human Rights Commissioner’s office said the shooting was a ‘moment for the country to seriously address the deep problem of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement.’”
On Sunday, French voters go to the polls in the first round of voting for the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, which could lead to the country's first far-right government since the Nazi occupation of World War II.
The far-right National Rally party (RN), which seeks to give a new specific legal status to the police, citing “security problems”, especially in housing complexes and other impoverished areas of French suburbs – or “banlieues”.
If police officers use weapons during an intervention, they will be “presumed” to have acted in self-defence. Currently, police officers have the same legal status as all French citizens and must prove that they acted in self-defence after firing a firearm.
Meanwhile, the left-wing New Popular Front coalition wants to ban the use of some police weapons and dismantle a notoriously violent police unit.
“People fear a victory for the RN party. We residents of working-class neighborhoods are afraid every day that our children, brothers or husbands will be killed. Racism and racial discrimination are part of our daily lives,” Traore said.
'Conflicting loyalties'
On Friday, the RN faced fresh accusations of racism when a senior MP declared that a former education minister of Moroccan descent should never have gotten the role because of her origins.
Lawmaker Roger Chudeau said the appointment of Najat Vallaud-Belkacem to the education portfolio in 2014 was “not a good thing” for France, saying her French and Moroccan citizenship meant she had “conflicting loyalties”.
However, the incidents have done little to dent the popularity of the National Rally.
Opinion polls suggest the RN party could dominate the next legislature after the second round of elections on July 7 and secure the post of prime minister. In that scenario, Macron would retain the presidency until 2027, but with a much weakened role.
