“When I hear the words police violence’, I suffocate,” Macron’s new Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin stated from the French National Assembly.
His phrasing has attracted further criticism in a time when many questioned his appointment once he confronted an investigation over a rape allegation.
“The authorities use violence really, but reasonably. […] It has to be proportionate and topic to a frame. When it’s implemented beyond the principles, they need to be immediately sanctioned,” he added.
Darmanin’s sparked anger as a consequence of his usage of the phrase”suffocate”, echoing the words of a delivery driver who died after being pinned to the floor by French authorities.
He repeated”I am suffocating” twice times while on the floor.
In a statement, attorneys for Chouviat’s family said that they had been”shocked” and”offended” by Darmanin’s remarks.
Among those attorneys tweeted stating: “Mr. Darmanin, you’ve just dismissed the constraints of decency.”
The dilemma of police violence has become a popular topic over the last couple of decades in France because of events such as the passing of 24-year-old Adama Traoré to police’s handling of this yellow vest protests.
