(Nanterre) Light armored vehicles, elite units and 45,000 men mobilized: the French government committed “exceptional” means on Friday to try to stem the cycle of violence, looting and destruction that has shaken many cities in the country since the death Tuesday of a young man from the Paris region, killed by a policeman while trying to escape a traffic control.
What there is to know
- A 17-year-old boy, Nahel, was killed by a police officer on Tuesday during a traffic check in Nanterre;
- The circumstances of his death aroused emotion and anger in Nanterre and in France as a whole, which experienced its third night of riots;
- French President Emmanuel Macron ruled Nahel’s death “inexplicable” and “inexcusable” on Wednesday, but condemned the riots on Thursday;
- The march in tribute to the young man took place Thursday afternoon in Nanterre;
- The police officer responsible for the fatal shooting was charged with intentional homicide;
- Cop apologized to Nahel’s family while in custody, lawyer says;
- 45,000 police and gendarmes were deployed in the streets of France overnight from Friday to Saturday.
Seized by an amateur video that contradicted the initial story given by the police, the point-blank shooting of a police motorcyclist and the death on Tuesday in Nanterre of Nahel M., 17, continues to set fire to many working-class neighborhoods in the country.
Even before the teenager’s funeral scheduled for Saturday, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had announced on the TF1 television channel “more specialized units” such as the RAID and the GIGN – elite police troops and the gendarmerie – as well as the deployment of 45,000 police and gendarmes.
Gendarmerie light armored vehicles were also sent in to try to reduce tensions compared to the previous night, when 492 buildings were targeted, 2,000 vehicles burned and dozens of shops looted, despite the arrest of nearly 900 people.
Traveling to the northwest of Paris, Mr. Darmanin thus reported around 2:30 a.m. (Friday 8:30 p.m. Eastern time) violence of a “less intensity” with 471 arrests at the national level and pockets tensions, particularly in Marseille and Lyon, major cities in the South-East.
“The time of violence must end to make way for that of mourning, dialogue and reconstruction”, urged the players of the France soccer team, in a press release relayed by star captain Kylian Mbappé.
“Spirit of Responsibility”
The second largest city in the country, Marseille was however once again the scene of clashes and scenes of looting, in the city center and the working-class neighborhoods further north, long neglected and where President Emmanuel Macron went at the start. week.
Police reported 88 arrests around 2 a.m. (Friday 8 p.m. EST) since early evening, groups of often masked and “very mobile” youths. A major fire, “linked to the riots” according to a police source, broke out in a supermarket.
The Paris region has not been spared, three cities near the capital having also decided to establish a curfew.
In Nanterre, a town in the western suburbs of Paris, where Nahel lived, nine people were arrested in possession of jerry cans and Molotov cocktails.
Other surrounding towns were affected, with public buildings set on fire.
The government had decided to cancel all “large-scale events” such as Mylène Farmer’s concerts on Friday and Saturday at the Stade de France, and asked for buses and trams to be stopped throughout the country after 9 p.m.
Emmanuel Macron, who cut short his stay in Brussels on Friday morning, called for families to be responsible, stressing that “a third of those arrested last night are young people, sometimes very young people”.
Mr. Macron accused social networks of fueling violence and said he expected the same “spirit of responsibility” from these platforms, citing in particular Snapchat and TikTok, where “violent rallies” are organized and which also arouse “an form of mimicry of violence”, according to him.
The death of Nahel M., whose family is from Algeria, has revived the subject of police violence in France, where 13 people died after a police check last year.
UN on Racism
PHOTO YVES HERMAN, REUTERS
During the night from Thursday to Friday, the police made more than 600 arrests.
During the regular UN press briefing in Geneva on Friday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged France “to seriously address the deep problems of racism and racial discrimination among the forces of the order”. An accusation deemed “totally unfounded” by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which immediately reacted.
The violence also worries France’s neighbors. The United Kingdom and other European countries, as well as the United States, have warned their nationals, urging them to avoid riot zones.
The question of the state of emergency is raised in the country by part of the political world and scrutinized abroad, especially since France is hosting the Rugby World Cup in the fall, then the Olympic Games. in Paris in the summer of 2024.
The state of emergency, which allows the administrative authorities to take exceptional measures such as a traffic ban, was decreed in November 2005 after 10 days of riots in the French suburbs triggered by the death of two teenagers, electrocuted in an electrical transformer where they had hidden to escape the police.
This time, Nahel M. was shot in the chest by point-blank fire from one of the two police officers who were trying to stop his vehicle. The latter, a 38-year-old motorcyclist, was charged Thursday with intentional homicide and placed in detention. A video shows him leaning on the side of the car, aiming at the driver before shooting at point-blank range when the vehicle suddenly restarts.