After the death of a teenager, killed during a traffic check in the Hauts-de-Seine, urban violence broke out. Riots reminiscent of those that broke out in Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), then in the rest of the country, in 2005, after the death of Zyed and Bouna.
Two nights under high tension. After the death of Nahel, this 17-year-old teenager killed by a shot from a policeman during a road check, Tuesday in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), urban violence broke out in several cities in the Paris region, and in other French cities. In total, during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, there were 159 arrests, 133 police officers and gendarmes were injured, 27 police premises were attacked and 22 public buildings, including 8 town halls, were set on fire or damaged.
>> Death of Nahel: follow the latest information in our live
Violence that is reminiscent of the urban riots of 2005. It all started from the Seine-Saint-Denis after the death of two teenagers, Zyed and Bouna, electrocuted on October 27 in a transformer in Clichy-sous-Bois after a chase with the police.
Nicolas Sarkozy tries to calm the situation
The death of Zyed and Bouna immediately provokes a wave of riots in the Chêne Pointu district. Hundreds of young people burn cars. The rumor accuses the Livry-Gargan police of having pursued the victims. Nicolas Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior, tries to calm the situation and denies the chase: “The first elements communicated to me show that these young people were not physically pursued by the police. They ran away and wanted to escape control, but the police were not behind them”.
On the spot, the minister’s remarks did not restore calm. On October 28 in Clichy-sous-Bois, rioters fired live ammunition at the CRS. On October 30, a tear gas canister fired by CRS exploded in the Clichy mosque. The mayor of the city, Claude Dilain, asks the justice to open a judicial investigation: “What we owe to the families and to the city is that the circumstances of this tragedy are perfectly explained, and indisputably”.
State of emergency declared
A week after the events, the appointment of an independent judge does not calm the rioters. The violence spread throughout Seine-Saint-Denis, then to Ile de France and the rest of the country. In the four corners of France, cars, street furniture, shops and even churches are targeted.
At the time, the government, through the voice of its Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, chose firmness and proclaimed a state of emergency. This allows local prefects to decree curfews. An exceptional measure which mainly targets minors but does not really change the situation for the police.
Little change in the police-population ratio
Of the 11,000 police and gendarmes deployed at the height of the riots, more than 220 were seriously injured. Then, on the 21st day of the riots, the anger almost died down on its own. The damage remains and amounts to more than 200 million euros, more than 10,000 vehicles are declared burnt.
Ten years later, the two police officers tried for the death of Zyed and Bouna are released. Today, as in 2005, the early days of the judicial and political response are decisive. The novelty is the use of video and social networks in the propagation of anger and the organization of violence. Since the beginning of the 2000s, the relationship between the police and the population as well as the doctrine for the use of law enforcement in neighborhoods have not really changed.