Death of Adama Traoré

On 19 July 2016, Adama Traoré's 24th birthday, Traoré was out with his older brother Bagui in the Paris suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise. Police approached the pair, seeking Bagui who was accused of extortion with violence.[3] The officers requested to check their IDs, but Traoré did not have his and fled. He was caught by officers, but fled again and was caught a second time, then handcuffed. The arresting officer was attacked and knocked to the ground by an unknown third party who fled the scene, allowing Traoré to escape again to hide in a nearby house.[4][5] Three officers of the National Gendarmerie found him hiding under a sheet without the handcuffs and pinned him down to arrest him.[3][4]

Following his arrest, Traoré stood up on his own but officers claim he seemed to be in some physical distress.[6] He was taken to a police vehicle and then to the nearby police station, a journey that took 3-4 minutes. On arrival at the station, the officers noticed Traoré had urinated on himself and was unconscious but they stated that he was still breathing.[6] The officers placed Traoré on the ground and called the emergency services.[7] When fire service paramedics arrived and saw Traoré was no longer breathing, they called an emergency medical team from the SAMU who tried to resuscitate him. After an hour, Traoré was declared dead at the scene.[3] After his death Traoré was found to have been in possession of €1,330 in cash and a bag of cannabis.[8]

Traoré had previously been convicted of various offenses–including rebellion and violence against the police, extortion, drug related offenses, and stealing–and had been incarcerated twice. He had been released from prison in May 2016, two months before his death.[9]

A lawyer who spécialises in police violence suggested that state medical examiners will tend to try to protect the system and lack independence.[4] A subsequent internal police investigation exonerated the officers.[14] In interviews Traoré's sister has stated that she believes that his death was the direct result of excessive use of force by the police whereas the two autopsies and four medical reports ordered by the magistrates conclude that the police officers were not responsible for his death.[15][16] On July 10, 2020, the magistrates in charge of investigating the death of Traoré ordered a new medical report but this time to be carried out by doctors in Belgium.[17]

His death sparked major protests in Paris, Lyon, and Toulouse under the slogan Justice pour Adama (Justice for Adama). The protests styled themselves after the American Black Lives Matter movement, and similarly focused on the grievance voiced that Black and Arab communities in France suffer disproportionately at the hands of the police.[18][2]

On 2 June 2020 in Paris.

Traoré became a major symbol for anti-police brutality activists. His older sister, Assa Traoré, became an anti-racism activist as a result of his death.[16][5]

On 29 May 2020, French legal authorities released a final report clearing the three officers involved of wrongdoing, triggering renewed protests.[10] Protesters also expressed solidarity with the George Floyd protests that erupted in the United States and elsewhere beginning in late May. Demonstrations in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and Lille, honoured both Floyd and Traoré.[14] On 2 June, over 20,000 protesters marched again in Paris, along with 2,500 in Lille, 1,800 in Marseille, and 1,200 in Lyon.[7]