France’s police force banned from using controversial chokeholds following protests over George Floyd death

THE French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has announced that police officers will no longer be able to restrain alleged criminals in chokeholds.

The use of chokeholds has been blamed for multiple cases of suffocation and sparked new controversy after the death of American George Floyd.

Castaner announced on Monday that “the method of seizing the neck via strangling will be abandoned and will no longer be taught in police schools.”

French lawmakers have called for Immobilisation techniques to be banned. These practices are where officers put pressure on weak parts of suspects’ bodies with their knee to render them unable to move and are used in police training around the world.

The Interior Minister spoke out as France’s government has come under pressure to address police brutality and racism.

President Emmanuel Macron has spoken to the prime minister Edouard Philippe and other officials over the weekend, asking Castaner to “accelerate” actions to improve police ethics that were promised at the beginning of the year.