Paris: While protests against police brutality were held across France on Saturday, about 2,000 people defied a ban to attend a memorial rally in central Paris for a young black man who died while in police custody. Tensions are high after days of rioting rocked the nation.
The interior ministry estimates that 5,900 people nationwide took to the streets.
His sister had intended to lead an annual remembrance march north of Paris in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise seven years after Adama Traore's passing.
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However, a court decided the likelihood of public disturbance was too high to permit the march to go forward out of concern that it would reignite recent unrest that was caused by the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. at a traffic stop near Paris.
Adama's older sister, Assa Traore, criticised the choice in a video that was shared on Twitter.
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She claimed that the government had made the decision to "add fuel to the fire" and "not to respect my little brother's death."
Instead, she went to a rally in the Place de la Republique in the heart of Paris.
"We are protesting to call on young people to oppose police brutality. At the rally, which was also attended by several lawmakers, she declared, "They want to hide our deaths.
Neo-Nazi marches are permitted, but we are not permitted to march. We cannot learn moral lessons from France. The police there are violent and racist, she claimed.
Elisabeth Borne, the prime minister, told the newspaper Le Parisien that the government would use "massive means to protect the French" on July 14 as France celebrates Bastille Day out of concern for a resurgence of rioting.
Borne announced a ban on the sale of fireworks after saying Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin would provide details. Rioters had been using fireworks to attack police.
In addition to being prohibited because it might disturb public order, Assa Traore faces legal action for organising the Traore rally in Paris, according to the police.
Another of Assa Tarore's brothers, Youssouf Traore, was detained and placed under arrest for allegedly assaulting a public official, public prosecutors said.
Assa Traore said, "The march went off peacefully, it was a success, we don't understand his arrest."
The leader of the hard-left France Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, criticised the administration.
"The leader is leading France to a regime we have already seen, from prohibition to repression. Danger. Danger," he tweeted, alluding to the Nazi-collaborating Philippe Petain Vichy regime of World War II.
Before peacefully dispersing later in the afternoon, many protesters shouted "Justice for Nahel" in the crowd.
Around 30 protests against police brutality were also held throughout France, including in Strasbourg in the east and Marseille, a port city in the south. A gathering was prohibited by Lille authorities.
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Following the shooting of Nahel M. on June 27, a number of trade unions, political parties, and associations urged supporters to join the march for Traore as France deals with accusations of institutionalised racism in its police ranks.
The 24-year-old Traore passed away soon after his arrest in 2016, setting off several nights of unrest that resembled the week-long rioting that broke out across the nation after the point-blank shooting of Nahel.
The 18 independent experts who make up the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) asked France to pass legislation defining and outlawing racial profiling on Friday and raised concerns about the "excessive use of force by law enforcement."
On Saturday, the foreign ministry refuted what it called the president's "excessive" and "unfounded" remarks.
The ministry responded, stating that "any ethnic profiling by law enforcement is prohibited in France," and that "the struggle against excesses in racial profiling has intensified."
The most severe and widespread riots France has experienced since 2005 are being blamed on mass migration, and far-right parties are calling for restrictions on immigration.
In connection with the protests since Nahel's passing, more than 3,700 people, including at least 1,160 minors, have been taken into police custody, according to official statistics.