PARIS ¨C Sports teacher Benjamin Belaidi held a banner reading ¡°no justice, no peace¡± as he marched in memory of the teenager shot dead by French police, weary of what he described as repressive policing and an absent state in city suburbs.
The 38-year-old Belaidi, who grew up in one of the low-income housing estates that ring France¡¯s towns and cities, was among thousands who marched peacefully to denounce what many in the banlieues (suburbs) say is a culture of police violence and systemic racism within law enforcement.
¡°They are not ¡¯guardians of the peace,¡¯ they don¡¯t even enforce order ¡ª they enforce disorder,¡± Belaidi said, reflecting the view of many around him.
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