Published Wednesday, January 27, 2021 8:00AM EST Last Updated Wednesday, January 27, 2021 6:19PM EST PARIS - Three leading rights organizations joined with grassroots groups Wednesday to launch France's first class action suit targeting the country's massive police machine, contending that it lawfully propagates a culture leading to systemic discrimination in identity checks. The NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Open Society Justice Initiative, allege that police target Black people and people of Arab descent in choosing who to stop and check and say the practice is alienating those populations and a danger to society. The issue of racial profiling has festered for years. Now, the organizations want deep law enforcement reforms, including a change in the article in the penal code that governs checks and currently gives police carte blanche with no trace of the encounter. They seek no monetary damages.