French police staged a protest march along the Champs Elysees to the Ministry of the Interior in Paris, accusing the government of scapegoating law enforcement agencies as public anger over race discrimination swells, Reuters reported.

There were protests in many cities and towns of France after a meeting between police unions and the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, whose goal was to dispel discontent among the police.

The unions accuse President Emanuel Macron and his government of disrespect after Castaner promised "zero tolerance" for racism in law enforcement and banned a chokehold while detaining suspects.

“Colleagues can’t take this any more,” Fabien Vanhemelryck of the National Police Alliance told reporters.

Police union cars in the convoy carried posters reading “No police, no peace”. Another contained images of injuries sustained by police attacked in the line of duty reading: “Who is massacring whom?” 

“We need to be protected, respected, supported. The police are never above the law, but they should never be left below the law,” Vanhemelryck said. 

A wave of anger swept around the world after the death of George Floyd, an African-American who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while detaining him.

According to human rights groups, the outpouring of emotions has resonated in France, especially in poor urban outskirts, where allegations of the brutal racist treatment of residents of often immigrant origin by the French police remain largely unattended.

A Black Lives Matter protest is planned in Paris on Saturday. Police called restaurants, shops, and businesses between the prestigious areas of Place de la Republique and Opera to close due to the risk of civil unrest.