France’s police are under scrutiny after racist abuse leaked from officers Facebook group

As the Black Lives Matter protests in support of Frenchman Adama Traoré in France have run alongside the worldwide rallies with the regard to the death of George Floyd in the USA, online media outlet SteetPress published comments from the private Facebook group.

The members of the group, reserved for police officers, consistently use racial slurs and sexist remarks as well as mocking those who have been victims of police brutality.

France’s Interior Minister, Christophe Castaner, has said that, “If the facts are proven to be true, these comments are unacceptable and seriously damage the honour of the police.”
He also assured that, “every mistake, every excess, every word including racist expressions” by police would be “the subject of an investigation, a decision, a punishment”.

In another racially charged case in France, a black police officer had made an official grievance against six white colleagues last year upon discovering a slew of racist messages on a Whatsapp group, that often made him a target. The six officers are still to face a disciplinary hearing, as reported by national police chief Frédéric Veaux, who also said, “The French police isn’t racist,” and added, “It suffers from behaviour which in no way corresponds to the republican values it defends.”