Police chokeholds being scrutinised around the world

LE PECQ, FRANCE: Three days after George Floyd died with a Minneapolis police officer choking off his air, another black man writhed on the tarmac of a street in Paris as a police officer pressed a knee to his neck during an arrest.

Immobilisation techniques where officers apply pressure with their knees on prone suspects are used in policing around the world and have long drawn criticism.

One reason why Floyd’s death is sparking anger globally is that such techniques have been blamed for asphyxiations and other deaths in police custody beyond American shores, often involving non-white suspects.

“We cannot say that the American

situation is foreign to us,” said French lawmaker Francois Ruffin, who has pushed for a ban on the police use of face-down holds that are implicated in multiple deaths in France, a parliamentary effort put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic. The muscular arrest on May 28 in Paris of a black man who was momentarily immobilised face-up with an officer’s knee and upper shin pressing down on his jaw, neck and upper chest is among those that have drawn angry comparisons with the killing of Floyd.

In Hong Kong, where police behaviour is a hot-button issue after months of anti-government protests, the city’s force says it is investigating the death of a man who was immobilised face-down during his arrest in May by officers who were filmed kneeling on his shoulder, back and neck.