RIOT police attacked anti-racism demonstrators in Paris with tear gas on Saturday after Paris Prefect Didier Lallement banned the demo.

Mr Lallement said the protest could not go ahead because of lockdown restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus, though the Council of State later stated that the right to protest remained.

An estimated 15,000 demonstrators were blocked by police from carrying out their intended march. 

The rally was addressed by Assa Traore, sister of Adama Traore who died in police custody in 2016. Nobody has yet been charged over his death. 

“We are all demanding the same thing — fair justice for everyone,” she said.

French Senator Laurence Cohen of the Communist Party told the crowds that it was “very important to be here, to demand a society of solidarity, fraternity and respect.”

She called on demonstrators to continue mobilising for reform of the police.

Officers assaulted protesters in some neighbourhoods, with videos being shared of peaceful activists being attacked. 

A group of far-right demonstrators scaled a building overlooking the demo and unveiled a banner attacking “anti-white racism,” but residents were able to open their windows and tear it down. The rightwingers were later arrested.

La France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Melenchon tweeted his support for the demo: “Congratulations to the Adama Traore committee and the anti-racists in the Place de la Republique,” he wrote.

“Beautiful demonstration, and beautiful resistance to the violent provocations of Prefect Lallement.”

Protests in France in solidarity with the George Floyd demonstrations in the US have already seen Interior Minister Christophe Castaner ban chokeholds and turned the spotlight on police violence.