Marchal was a police officer himself for more than ten years before starting a career as an actor, director and screenwriter.
Speaking on French station BFMTV on Monday night, he affirmed that he, and by implication other police officers, did not choose the job to “bash up Arabs and black people”.
“Cops conduct themselves extremely well,” he said, while acknowledging that “they are human too” and some officers sometimes let the force down.
But those who were racist or who failed in their duties should not be conflated with all the other police officers who behave “in an exemplary way”, he declared.
Visibly tearful, Marchal railed at those in his own industry who offered opinions from their apartments, as he pointed out that being a police officer was “a very difficult job”.
Marchal took a swipe at French actor Omar Sy whose open letter published in l'Obs weekly appealed for people to "have the courage to denounce police violence".
Police not racist says Philippe
Meanwhile amid allegations of police brutality in France, voiced at protests over the death of George Floyd in the US, the French Prime Minister spoke out on Tuesday.
“France, the national police, the gendarmerie are not racist”, Edouard Philippe asserted in Parliament. “But every time there is a racist act”, he continued, “it’s important that the whole country reacts.”
There were demonstrations around France on Tuesday, organised by the group SOS Racisme, calling for action, amid worldwide outrage over the death of George Floyd.
At recent rallies in France denouncing the killing of George Floyd, placards have compared his death to that of Adama Traoré, a young black man who died after being arrested by police near Paris in 2016.
Traoré lost consciousness in the police vehicle and died at a nearby police station. He was handcuffed when paramedics arrived. There are conflicting medical reports concerning his death.
Around twenty two thousand people attended a march on 2 June in Paris organised by the campaign group “Justice for Adama”.
