On the front line in the face of the violence that affected the country after the death of Nahel, these city councilors deliver their thoughts for the future.
It’s midnight in Rome, Italy. Zartoshte Bakhtiari has just fallen asleep, happy to enjoy a week’s vacation after a busy year. This various right-wing mayor of Neuilly-sur-Marne (Seine-Saint-Denis) does not hear the two calls from the prefect who tries to reach him, Thursday June 28, around 1:30 am. After a few moments of hesitation, this professional lawyer finally calls the senior official, who informs him that violent riots are affecting his town. “I am absolutely shocked, dazed as I am 1,000 km from Paris”, he says. During this “completely surreal evening”, Zartoshte Bakhtiari remotely follows the fires of the seven municipal police cars, but also a good part of the police station, the media library and the housing service of the municipality. The next morning, the 33-year-old city councilor returned in disaster to Neuilly-sur-Marne by boarding the first plane.
Like him, dozens of elected officials helplessly witness an outburst of violence in their commune, after the death of Nahel, this 17-year-old teenager killed by police fire during a refusal to comply, on June 27. A week after this tragedy, Emmanuel Macron received more than 200 mayors to discuss what they had experienced. With franceinfo, ten of them give their thoughts on the future and their role as elected officials.
“I crushed embers in the town hall”
All of them first recount their surprise at the intensity of the riots which affected working-class neighborhoods, but also peaceful towns. “I fell out of my bed, it’s the case to say it”remembers Jean Laviolette, the mayor of Brie-Comte-Robert (Seine-et-Marne), where the town hall and the police station were targeted.
“It felt like civil war. It’s incomprehensible.”
Jean Laviolette, mayor of Brie-Comte-Robertat franceinfo
In Montargis, a quiet little town of 15,000 inhabitants in Loiret, Benoit Digeon is only “the spectator of the disaster”. THE “disaster”It is “a mob of 300 people who destroyed everything” overnight from Thursday to Friday. Cars are burned, windows smashed, stores looted. “We felt lonely. I was a little disappointed when, at 3 a.m. on Thursday, I crushed embers in the town hall while one of my agents put out the fire in the hall”further testifies Alexis Teillet, LR mayor of Savigny-sur-Orge (Essonne).
To stem this spiral of violence, elected officials are getting organized. Some obtain the reinforcement of the national police or establish curfews. Fatigue becomes the common denominator of these city officials, permanently on deck.
“I’ve been sleeping between 1:30 and 2 hours for six nights, I’m exhausted.”
Zartoshte Bakhtiari, mayor of Neuilly-sur-Marneat franceinfo
Boris Ravignon, the mayor of Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes), decides on his side to do “citizen surveillance with around twenty elected officials”. Armed with fire extinguishers, they divide up the quarters. One evening, while trying to put out a burning barricade, the mayor is recognized by “a group of people” who insults the elect and throws glass bottles at them. “We came under airsoft gunfire [des petites billes en plastique], without being touched. It was a little violent, but we didn’t have time to be afraid.”
“Even today, I sleep badly”
Since the decrease in violence, elected officials can recover a little, find a more “normal”, or just go home. The mayor of Darnétal (Seine-Maritime), Christian Lecerf, had thus left his home on Friday evening so as not to endanger his family. A far from superfluous precaution: on the night of July 1 to 2, the pavilion of the mayor LR of L’Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne) was attacked with a burning car-ram. His wife had to flee with her children under her arm.
“Even today, I sleep badly, yet confides Christian Lecerf. Every morning I wake up wondering if something is going to happen.” In Châteauneuf-sur-Loire (Loiret), Mayor Florence Galzin also remains on the alert. “I’m afraid that at the next spark, there will be the same conflagration, especially with social networks. The serenity has disappeared.”
If the nights are a little less short, the days remain very busy. “We don’t have time to mess around”, says Benoit Jimenez, the UDI mayor of Garges-lès-Gonesse (Val-d’Oise). It is necessary to quantify the damage, contact the insurers, manage the cleaning of the degraded places and evacuate the carcasses of burnt cars. The mayor of Montargis plays for his part the foremen, while a completely burned building must be cleared, and two others threaten to collapse and must be demolished.
“The priority is to clean up, to put the city back on its feet and to erase the scars of these riots. We are trying to get back on track.”
Benoît Digeon, mayor of Montargisat franceinfo
Same eagerness in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, where the mayor wanted to clean the tag as soon as possible “Nahel Justice” registered on the town hall on the night of Thursday to Friday. “I didn’t want it to become a show, or for young people to come and take pictures in front of it.” For Benoit Jiménez, “the urgency is to regain normality”. This often goes through a form of system D: in Laval (Mayenne), the various left mayor Florian Bercault has temporarily relocated the school to the community center.
“We will have to rationally think about the aftermath”
They also guess that the reconstruction will not only be material. “The answer cannot be just to inject money into the neighborhoods. But at this stage, I don’t see a solution.” delivers, impotent, the mayor of Darnétal. On the right, the first tracks are primarily safe and identity. “What worries me the most is the emergence of a counter-nation with French people who no longer consider themselves Frenchassures Jean-Didier Berger, LR mayor of Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine). It’s up to the Republican parties to take this issue in hand and restore firmness.” The mayor of Neuilly-sur-Marne evokes him “a problem of understanding national identity” that he “must be inculcated from an early age”, by extending the time for civic education at school. These nights of violence have also convinced a good number of city councilors to reinforce video surveillance or to increase the means intended for the municipal police.
On the left, the focus is “on the human”, summarizes the mayor of Laval. Florian Bercault has thus opened a psychological listening cell for the inhabitants. It also wants to organize meetings between young people and police officers in order to promote “trade time” and calls for the return of community policing. “We will have to rationally think about the aftermath, but there is no magic solution”, he insists. Back in Charleville-Mézières after the meeting at the Elysée, Boris Ravignon, labeled LR, wanted to go to a neighborhood “in trouble” of his municipality for “tell the inhabitants that we are not going to abandon them”.
“We had planned investments in these difficult neighborhoods, they must take place. We are not going to punish a neighborhood of 10,000 inhabitants for 15 young people who indulge in violence. It would be unfair.”
Boris Ravignon, mayor of Charleville-Mézièresat franceinfo
Parental responsibility, at the heart of the executive’s discourse, also challenges mayors. “We put everything on the backs of the mayors and the state, but the parents are responsible, even if I understand that it is not easy for some”, strikes the mayor of Darnétal. “We must emphasize even more support for parenthood”, rebounds the mayor of Garges-lès-Gonesse. Right and left alike, everyone is asking for more state support. “We mayors have a role to play: we must try to stop this underlying violence, including in rural communities”, says the mayor of Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. “But we have to be given the means.”
“I feel like a soldier of the Republic”
Still in shock, the mayors do not want to rush their political response to the crisis either. “I don’t want to react in a hurry, I think it’s better to let the summer pass and we’ll see at the start of the school year if we have to change things in our way of working”, advances the mayor of Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. The phrase “I was not elected for this”comes back like a refrain among these mayors. “It’s not a mandate like the others. I’m dejected, and appalled. I wonder what we missed to get here. It’s not easy to liveloose Christian Lecerf. We’ll try to rest.”
“Some mayors say they are not going to run again. For me, it is too early to ask such questions.”
Christian Lecerf, Mayor of Darnetalat franceinfo
Despite the unprecedented violence they have witnessed, or sometimes the targets, none of the mayors interviewed by franceinfo plans to leave their mandate. “I am very determined, I feel like a soldier of the Republic”assures the mayor of Neuilly-sur-Marne. “I’m not the type to give up”, smiles his colleague from Montargis. The gatherings organized Monday, July 3 at noon, at the call of the Association of Mayors of France, were also appreciated. “I was very impressed by all the people who came to me to show their support”greets the mayor of Brie-Comte-Robert.
The mayors are hoping for a lot from the future “emergency law”, promised by Emmanuel Macron to speed up reconstruction, while fearing a resurgence of violence. “What will happen when the law enforcement reinforcements are no longer there?”asks Christian Lecerf. “If the court decides to release the policeman [auteur du tir contre Nahel]what can happen?“, worries for his part Alexis Teillet, while the lawyer of the policeman placed in pre-trial detention after the death of the teenager made a request for release on June 29, which was finally rejected Thursday. , the mayor of Garges-lès-Gonesse preferred to cancel several events, such as the July 14 fireworks or a football tournament, but maintained the local celebrations. “The urgency is to renew the dialogue”, he said.