(Paris) Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday an “emergency law” to speed up reconstruction in the cities affected by the riots of the past week, opening several projects with “absolute priority”, the restoration of a “sustainable order” .
Before the mayors of more than 300 municipalities gathered at the Elysée Palace, the Head of State first said he was “very cautious” about the prospect of a return to calm, while considering that the “peak” of first nights was “past”.
He therefore confirmed “exceptional means” to guarantee “sustainable, republican order” and “maintain the effort and the pressure”, in particular on July 13 and 14, around the national holiday.
The night riots broke out on June 27, hours after the death of 17-year-old Nahel, killed by a policeman during a traffic check in Nanterre.
Clashes with the police, burning of town halls, schools, police stations and looting of shops have multiplied across France, culminating in the attack on the home of the mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses in the Val-de -Marne, before a sharp decline since Sunday evening.
This return to calm continued on Tuesday: no major incident had been reported by the end of the evening.
The Marseille prosecutor’s office, however, reported that a 27-year-old man died in this city probably following a “violent shock to the chest” caused by a “flash-ball type” projectile, a death dating back to the night from Saturday to Sunday, peppered with riots.
At the national level, in one week, 3,625 people were placed in police custody, including 1,124 minors. Among them, 990 were brought to justice and 380 imprisoned.
Debate on police brutality
Thirteen “serious attacks” on elected officials have been identified, said Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
“Even if calm has returned, I consider that we cannot act as if nothing had happened,” insisted the president.
The death of young Nahel has reignited the debate on police violence. But despite his incarceration, the policeman who fired the shot benefited from a solidarity movement marked by the constitution of a kitty initiated by a figure from the far right, Jean Messiha.
After causing a scandal on the left, this common pot was closed on Wednesday shortly after midnight, posting 1,636,220 euros in donations. Nahel’s family lawyer announced in the evening that he had filed a complaint against Jean Messiha, in particular for fraud in an organized gang.
During the meeting at the Élysée, Patricia Tordjman, communist mayor of Gentilly, in Val-de-Marne, challenged the president frontally, believing that “nothing has been done” since he was elected in 2017 , “worse we are deprived of resources”.
Jean-François Copé, LR mayor of Meaux, “does not believe in the social riot, the hunger riot”.
Summary of Eric Straumann, LR mayor of Colmar (Haut-Rhin), in front of journalists: “right-wing mayors offer right-wing solutions, authority, education, left-wing mayors offer left-wing solutions, more money”.
Speaking at the end, Emmanuel Macron could only note this lack of “unanimity”.
Role of social networks
Regarding the destruction suffered by the municipalities, he announced an “emergency law to crush all delays” and speed up reconstruction.
He promised support “to be able to repair very quickly” the broken video surveillance equipment, as well as financial aid for repairs concerning “roads, municipal establishments, schools”.
The government said it was open to “cancellations” of social and tax contributions “on a case-by-case basis” for vandalized businesses. The Minister of the Economy indicated that the insurers had agreed to “consider reductions in the deductible”.
In addition, Bruno Le Maire wants to believe that the outbreak of violence will have no consequences on the growth and attractiveness of France, as he told the American channel CNN and the British daily Telegram in order to reassure a very popular English-speaking tourist clientele.
The Head of State has also opened long-term projects, from housing to decentralization, including juvenile justice and education, without going into detail.
The executive must work on it during the summer “to lead to very concrete solutions”, because “we must not let the dough fall”, he launched.
Among these projects, he said he wanted to “better support, better empower and sometimes better sanction” the parents of children who are perpetrators of violence. Monday evening, in front of the police, he had considered a “kind of minimum rate from the first bullshit” of their child, taking up an antiphon from the right.
The government is also wondering about the role of amplifying the violence that social networks have been able to play: the Minister in charge of the Digital Transition Jean-Noël Barrot moreover proposed Tuesday evening in the Senate the establishment of a working group on this topic.