Paris – Campaigners for the rights of black French people used a Barack Obama look-alike in video clips denouncing what they say is discrimination by police who stop and search black people more than others.
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The clips, which was be posted on the Internet, shows an actor impersonating the U.S. president-elect strolling through busy Paris streets when police stop and search him for no apparent reason.
the rights group CRAN hopes the films featuring the fake Obama will help get its message across.
“It’s a trick of style that allows us to talk about the substance,” Patrick Lozes, head of the CRAN, told reporters at a news conference held jointly with the look-alike, Michael Lamar.
The American impersonator, who said he had a day job at a bank in Philadelphia, entertained onlookers during filming with presidential waves of the hand and cries of “Yes, we can!”
Official statistics from the French police do not record the ethnic origin of people stopped and searched on the street, so the allegation of discrimination against black and Arab people — often made by human rights groups — is hard to prove.
The CRAN commissioned a study by respected pollsters CSA in July last year that suggested a member of a “visible minority” was twice as likely to be stopped by police as a white person.
“It’s a shocking breach of equality and the authorities are indifferent,” Lozes said.
A police spokesman denied there was discrimination in street identity checks, which are legal in France. He said police had good relations with the CRAN and were planning a seminar with the group on the issue of checks in coming months.
But anti-racism groups and some police staff unions insist that there is a problem.
Michel Guerlavais, in charge of human rights issues at the UNSA police union, said police officers were under pressure from high up to catch illegal immigrants and this led to discriminatory practices on the streets.
“You’re under pressure to notch up high numbers so why not do more and more stop and search, and while you’re at it why not target people from visible minorities?” he told reporters at the CRAN news conference.
In one of his more controversial policies, President Nicolas Sarkozy set a target of 26,000 expulsions of illegal immigrants for the year 2008. Human rights groups say the target is arbitrary and encourages abusive tactics by police.
the obama mania continues
nice
the Secret Service probably has a good dozen or so Obamatrons (doubles), for Security purposes, just like Sadaam Hussein did.
“every men is created equal” is only in America.
What’s the problem, they just wanted his autograph!!!!
You don’t understand. They stopped him because he spoke English. If he would spoken Arabic the S4B policeman would have let him go.