French police have been accused of targeting Black and Arab men with discriminatory fines

Sitting at the living room table of her Paris apartment, Khady Mané opens one white envelope after another, flipping through the notices and adding them to the growing pile of fines and late payment reminders.

“They come almost every day, it doesn’t stop,” he said.

Over the years, police have issued countless fines to his three sons, for offenses ranging from loitering to disturbing the peace. Mané stopped counting when the total amount of debt exceeded 20,000 euros ($32,200 Cdn).

“At first I thought [my sons] they were doing things they shouldn’t be doing or wandering around in places they shouldn’t be doing, but I heard other mothers talk about the big fines they received.

Fines start from 11 to 135 euros, but can quickly rise for non-payment to hundreds, even thousands of euros, with some families owing almost 40,000 euros.

Mane says the stress of repeated police checks and mounting debts has made his eldest son, who has bipolar disorder, volatile. He began to struggle with his mental health, and was hospitalized again in a psychiatric ward.

“I don’t sleep anymore,” said Mané, from Senegal. “When you see the racism that happens in the places where we live, you understand the level of injustice. You start asking yourself, am I part of this community?”

Mané’s youngest son, Ismaël, 21, says he has been receiving fines since he was 11 or 12, when he was playing outside or chatting with friends outside his building.

“I don’t have a single friend of mine who hasn’t received a fine,” he said.

Penalties for ‘discrimination’

In accordance with a report released last week by Human Rights Watch, (RE)Claim and the Center for Development and Social Cooperation (MCDS), the French police systematically target black and Arab youth, checking their identity and issuing fines on the spot to young people.

“The same people who were targeted for discrimination, discrimination and searches are now receiving more fines for breaches of the law that are perceived as disturbing the public,” said Lanna Hollo, (RE) Claims Director and co-author of this report.

Boys and young men in the working areas are “accused of throwing garbage, spitting or talking loudly, saying they were talking to friends, sitting on a bench or playing basketball,” he said.

The report, “Paying the Price for Police Abuse,” is based on more than 40 interviews with young men and parents in the Paris, Lyon and Grenoble area.

It follows another report released earlier this year by the Court of Auditors, which found that between 2019 and 2024, the number of criminal fines has increased ninefold, from 57,000 to almost 500,000.

Police say they are routinely called out to respond to complaints of everything from noise disturbances to drug dealing. In 2023, former Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez he told French radio that “if there are suspicions of discrimination, we are informed, and I request reports to the police.”

Meanwhile, many people report receiving fines in the mail without being contacted by the police.

“The HRW-(RE) Claim report makes it clear that you can get these fines without being stopped by the police,” said Sebastian Roché, a political scientist at Sciences Po Grenoble, who did not contribute to the report. “That’s illegal…. There must be a contact with him.”

Hollo said “in some cases, [the youth] they were not even in the places specified” in their fines.

Last year, the phone data of a fined 16-year-old boy proved he was nowhere near where he was accused, leading to the conviction of a police officer for fraud.

In another case, two police officers were found to have issued false fines and forged the signatures of the victims.

Police powers have been expanded

Originally aimed at traffic code violations, the penalties there were expanded in the 2010s to offenses such as noise complaints or littering.

The change was intended to reduce pressure on the French justice system and speed up trials, by allowing the police to deal directly with minor crimes. But observers say it gave the police broad powers to determine people’s guilt or innocence on the spot.

“This effectively transfers judicial responsibilities to the police,” said the rights group’s report, “in a derogatory way.” [people’s] due process rights.”

“This is not about every police officer abusing the law,” said Hollo. “This is a system where the police decide whether a crime has been committed, and then issue a fine immediately.”

Laurent Nuñez, who is now France’s interior minister, disputed the argument that the fines cover any form of abuse.

In a written response to Human Rights Watch, Nuñez said anyone fined has the right to appeal, adding that citations are “important tools to restore everyday security.”

Ethnic profiling

French Supreme Courts and UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination they also found that the police disproportionately investigated young men from low-income communities.

In 2017, France’s Rights Ombudsperson revealed that police are 20 times more likely to stop and search young black and Arab men. In 2025, it was said Discriminatory testing remained widespread, and such suspensions and fines formed part of an “institutional policy to ‘remove’ from public spaces people labeled as ‘undesirable.’

Another report of Court of Auditors showed that many fines were marred by procedural errors and lacked independent oversight.

Young men interviewed in the rights group’s report say they have closed their bank accounts and are working for cash to avoid having their wages deducted, which could prevent future employment opportunities.

When Ismael Mané was unable to pay the mounting fines, the government’s treasury garnished his salary at the Michelin-starred restaurant where he was starting as a sous-chef. Repeated notifications raised questions at work, and Ismaël decided to leave.

“I know people who have left their jobs because they are tired of seeing their wages taken away,” said Omer Mas Capitolin, MCDS organizer. “Some who were getting their lives back on track have stopped their studies or turned to illegal activities to try to pay off their debts. We are seeing an increase in young people who feel left behind.”

Others, with the support of youth organizations, fought back. The two cases are combined in Essonne, south of Paris, search overthrow more than 400,000 euros fine given to 19 young men.

On the other hand, Ismaël Mané is putting off paying with patience.

“Perhaps you could ask for a payment plan?” her mother suggested as she settled the bills.

“If I pay,” replied Ismaël, “it’s like admitting I’ve done something wrong.”