2023-07-01 03:06:00
The wave of violence that broke out last Tuesday in the center of Nanterre, in the suburbs of Paris, and spread in the following days to other French cities, keeps the government of President Emmanuel Macron on edge, who this Friday urged parents family to keep their teenage children at home and proposed restrictions on social networks to calm the riots following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old boy shot by police following resisting a vehicle control.
Until this Friday, some 900 people – most of them young people – were arrested during the angry demonstrations that included looting, damage to shops in the center of the French capital and the burning of some 2,000 vehicles, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reported. .
While Macron does not rule out the possibility of declaring a state of emergency – an option that was last used in similar circumstances in 2005, during the administration of the then conservative president, Jacques Chirac – Darmanin ordered the total suspension of public transport services with buses and with trains all over the country before sunset. Earlier, the Paris region had announced the cancellation of these benefits in order to protect transport workers and passengers.
The provision was adopted the day before as soon as the second government crisis meeting concluded in the day in which Macron argued that social media platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok played a “considerable role” in promoting acts of violence during the riots this week.
The president promised that his government will work with technology companies to establish procedures aimed at “eliminating the most sensitive content.” He did not specify the content he had in mind, but stated: “I expect a spirit of responsibility from these platforms.”
Armored, to the streets
In the incandescent context, the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, announced this Friday the deployment of armored vehicles from the Gendarmerie – a military body that performs public security functions – to contain the massive riots that have shaken the country since last Tuesday.
Borne’s office also ordered the cancellation of large events that require the mobilization of numerous security personnel or that represent a risk to public order.
For its part, the conservative opposition insistently calls for the declaration of a state of emergency immediately. This exceptional measure involves the total or partial restriction of civil rights and the endowment of more power to the security forces.
Rival leaders of the ruling party agree that the restriction of freedoms is an effective way to stop the escalation of riots and that until last night it registered some 900 detainees and around 250 injured agents and gendarmes, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.
The last time a state of emergency was declared in France was in November 2015, due to the jihadist attacks in Paris. Initially, the Government can adopt it during a period of 12 days, renewable if the Parliament deems it appropriate.
Given the deepening of the crisis, Macron abruptly left the European Council meeting in Brussels this Friday, without holding the usual press conference at the end of the two days of work.
In the last 24 hours, firefighters registered some 9,900 notices related to street protests, including 3,880 related to fires in public spaces, according to Civil Protection data collected by the BFM TV network.
Algeria, shocked
In light of all this, the Government of Algeria expressed its “dismay” at the “brutal and tragic” death of the young man of French-Algerian origin involved in an alleged “trigger-friendly” case, which sparked the wave of protests and riots that is ongoing in I vile the European country.
The riots come just over a year before Paris and other violence-stricken French cities welcome 10,500 Olympians and millions of visitors for the summer Olympics. The Paris 2024 organizing committee said it was closely monitoring the situation and preparations for the international sporting event were continuing.
1688196003
#chaos #stop #armored #vehicles #protests
