PRESSURE is growing on France to act over police racism in the wake of the George Floyd protests in the United States.

French media reported today complaints from the families of four 14-year-olds who were arrested by police on May 26 when they went into a grocer’s to buy drinks and sweets. 

In custody the four report being slapped, abused as “stupid Maghrebians” (a reference to the north African region including Algeria) and “faggots,” that a police officer told colleagues to “put the two blacks together” and that they were accused of a number of unrelated crimes before being released 24 hours later.