March 15: International Day Against Police Brutality

Manuel Van den Broucke, sports, society and politics correspondent, March 15, 2025

Most Common Forms of Police Brutality

The most common form of police brutality is excessive use of force, as in the case of George Floyd's death by asphyxiation in 2020 in Minneapolis, pinned to the ground under an officer's knee for nine minutes. Violence involving so-called "less-lethal" weapons is common, such as the rubber bullet that blinded Jérôme Rodrigues in one eye during a Yellow Vests protest in Paris in 2019, or the use of tear gas grenades that led to the death of Zineb Redouane in Marseille in 2018. Arbitrary arrests accompanied by beatings are also frequent, such as the case of Michel Zecler, a music producer assaulted by police in November 2020 in Paris. Racial profiling, often behind these abusive stops, is also common, as in the case of Adama Traoré, who died in France in 2016 after a violent arrest, or Tyre Nichols, beaten to death by police in Memphis, USA, in 2023.

Government Responses to Accusations of Police Violence

Government responses to accusations of police violence vary widely. In the United States, George Floyd's death in 2020 led to officer Derek Chauvin being sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison. In France, after the Michel Zecler case in 2020, President Emmanuel Macron publicly condemned police violence and demanded sanctions, leading to the suspension of the officers involved. By contrast, in Brazil, after the Jacarezinho massacre in 2021, President Jair Bolsonaro defended the police operation, downplaying accusations of excessive force. In Iran, authorities denied any responsibility for the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, accusing protesters of being manipulated by foreign powers. Likewise, in Russia, during the pro-Navalny protests in 2021, the government ignored international criticism and carried out mass arrests, dismissing the accusations as Western disinformation.

Global Movements Against Police Abuse

After George Floyd's death in May 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement spread from the United States to more than 60 countries, with massive protests in London, Paris, Berlin, and Sydney. In Nigeria, in October 2020, the #EndSARS movement against police violence by the special anti-robbery squad sparked protests in Lagos and Abuja, as well as in London and New York. In Iran, after Mahsa Amini's death in September 2022, gatherings were held in Tehran, but also in European cities such as Paris and Berlin, denouncing police violence and the crackdown by the Iranian regime.