Home Focus France: Antifa activists threaten journalist at Traore Committee protest

France: Antifa activists threaten journalist at Traore Committee protest

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(Photo: V4 Agency)

By: V4 Agency

Journalists reporting on the anti-police demonstration were insulted and threatened by a group of anti-fascist protesters on the scene. Police intervention was needed to resolve the situation.

The Traore Committee has sprung into action yet again. The organisation was created in 2016 by Assa Traore in memory of her brother Adama, a repeat offender who died after being taken into custody in 2016. The group staged an anti-police protest in Paris, which was attended by several hundred people. According to their billboards, they took to the streets to march for equality.

Answering to the call of the Traore Committee, hundreds of people gathered in a square to demand justice and equality for all victims of police violence and to protest against racism in France, according to Twitter posts and images.

Main organiser Assa Traore incited the attendees with an anti-police speech, stressing that her brother was not the only person to fall victim to police violence. In her opinion, French police officers tend to simply grab their guns and put bullets in the heads of their victims.

However, it was in fact the anti-fascist activists in attendance who resorted to violence, French daily Le Figaro writes. Among the reporters covering the demonstration, far-left activists identified Georges Matharan, a reporter for the conservative media outlet Livre Noir (Black Book), and immediately moved towards him. According to the reporter, he was insulted, threatened and forced to delete the footage of the event.

It can be heard clearly on the recording as the reporter is being threatened with death, as an Antifa man told him that if he ran into him again, he would be roasted.

One of the participants informed the demonstrators over the loudspeaker that supporters of the right-wing presidential candidate Eric Zemmour were also present, and added that they had tried to force them out of the march.

The threatening demonstrators were eventually talked down by the police, but afterwards Livre Noir staff saw fit to leave the scene, as the event’s security service made it clear to Livre Noir founder and editor-in-chief Erik Tegner that a far-right journalist like him would not be protected. According to Mr Tegner, they had been threatened and intimidated by Antifa activists on several occasions during the demonstration prior to the verbal exchange. The Livre Noir crew did not wish to file a complaint because, despite the threats and intimidation, their equipment was not damaged.

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