Years before France was inflamed with anger at the police killing of a teenager during a traffic stop, there was the notorious Théo Luhaka case.
Mr. Luhaka was wrestled to the ground by three police officers, who hit him repeatedly and sprayed tear gas in his face.
When it was over, he was bleeding from a four inch tear in his rectum, caused by one of the officers’ expandable batons.
Mr. Luhaka’s housing project, and others around Paris, erupted in fury.
He was held up as a symbol of what activists had been denouncing for years: discriminatory policing that violently targets minority youth, particularly in France’s poor areas.
Persons:
Luhaka
Locations:
France, Black, Paris