2023-07-03 12:13:00
France is immersed in a wave of violence that has lasted six days and that was unleashed following the publication of a video of the death of a 17-year-old boy of Algerian descent by a police officer shooting at a traffic control near Paris.
The anger sparked by the death of the young Nahel led to violent street riots with direct confrontations with the police, looting of businesses, the burning of hundreds of vehicles and other property, and the arrest of more than 3,500 people.
The first trials once morest those detained by the immediate appearance procedure have already begun, with dozens of jail sentences.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who was forced to call off a trip to Germany, blamed social media for fueling the unrest and has called on families to take responsibility for their teenage children.
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told France Inter radio that parents who delegate responsibility “out of disinterest or deliberately” would be prosecuted.
This is what has happened in France in the last six days:
A burned car in Colombes, France, during the riots over the death of the teenager Nahel, at a traffic control.
Crédito: Sam Tarling/Getty Images
Attacks, looting, riots: what happens in Paris and other cities in France
Some 45,000 officers have been deployed across the country to deal with the violence, fueled by discontent over discrimination once morest people with roots in former French colonies and living in low-income neighborhoods.
Throughout the country, 297 vehicles were set on fire, as well as 34 buildings, mainly targeting police stations and town halls.
This weekend, a burning car crashed into the home of the mayor of the Paris suburb of L’Hay-les-Roses, Vincent Jeanbrun, who said his wife and one of their children had been injured.
Jeanbrun accused the government of doing little and acting late. Blaming social media or parents, he said, was a way to cover up a bigger problem.
“The basic ingredients are still there. For years every summer the explosives prevent people from sleeping, drive them crazy, ”he told BFM television on Monday. “Summer following summer we are powerless.”
The mayors of France called to gather this Monday in front of the town halls to express their opposition to the current wave of urban violence, which seemed to have subsided following almost a week of nightly riots.
Since June 27, “republican symbols such as town halls, schools, libraries, the municipal police have been attacked with extreme violence,” the councilors underlined.
Images of violent protests in France following the death of a teenager at the hands of a police officer
Those arrested in the riots in France
This Sunday the number of arrests dropped to 157, according to the Ministry of the Interior, well below the peak of 3,880 arrests recorded on the violent night of June 30.
The ministry also reported three injuries among the security forces and reported 352 fires on public roads and 297 burned cars. A police station and another one for gendarmes were attacked.
A 24-year-old firefighter was killed trying to put out a vehicle fire in an underground car park on the outskirts of Paris, but no link to the riot might initially be established.
The Interior Ministry said on Sunday that ten police stations had been attacked, as well as ten gendarmerie barracks and six municipal police stations.
Nahel M’s grandmother launched an appeal for calm on Sunday asking people to “stop and not riot”.
“To the people who are rioting, I say the following: Do not break windows, do not attack schools or buses. It is the mothers who take the bus, it is the mothers who go out into the streets,” grandmother Nadia told the network. BFM TV.
Police patrol in front of the Arc de Triomphe, on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
Credit: Christophe Ena/AP
They collect funds for the defense of the police officer involved in the death of Nahel
A well-known personality from the French extreme right opened a fundraising campaign on the Gofundme platform, entitled ‘Support for the family of the Nanterre policeman’, had raised more than $926,800 this Monday morning, well above from the initial target of $54,460.
The promoter is Jean Messiha, a man of Egyptian origin (his family was part of the Coptic Christian minority) who was a member of the National Rally (RN), Jean-Marie Le Pen’s party, which he left in 2020 to associate with another most radical leader of the extreme right, the former candidate for the Élysée Eric Zemmour.
In the message of the request for money for the officer who shot the young Nahel to death, it is insisted that it is regarding going to “support the family of the Nanterre policeman Florian M., who did his job and now pays a strong price”.
Apparently, the young man was driving a rental Mercedes sports car without a license, according to press reports.
The agent was charged with voluntary manslaughter following several videos recorded by witnesses at the scene circulated that showed that Nahel’s escape attempt, contrary to what he said in his first statement, did not endanger the physical integrity of Florian M and the other police motorcyclist who was involved with him in the pursuit of the minor.
Through the mouth of his lawyer, the 38-year-old brigadier has apologized for the consequences of the shot, but has insisted that the use of the weapon was in legitimate defense.
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