TESTIMONY. “18 years later, we still think that the only solution is to break up”, denounces Mohamed who took part in the riots of 2005

You have to walk about twenty minutes from the town hall of Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) to reach the French La Noue-Clos district where Mohamed has lived for almost 30 years. It was here, in this neighborhood of 7,000 inhabitants that he grew up. And it is also here that he participated in the 2005 riots triggered by the death of Zyed and Bouna in Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis). 20 years later, Mohamed remembers those few days that shook part of France.

“A call for help”

The bus stop, theinstrumentarium, the social center…Mohamed remembers the infrastructures targeted at the time. “In 2005, on attacked the symbols of the Statehe said. We burned cars, broke bus stops… We tried to burn down a social security center that was near our house.“. In the quarters, “we were already suffering a lot of injustice from the police who did not hesitate to hit us and the story of Zyed and Bouna, it was the last straw”“, says the one who was 18 years old then.

He now readily admits it: it wasn’t necessarily the best way to express himself, but, at that time, the anger was too strong. “At some point, we have more than that. We have more than rage. It has to come out. Otherwise, we consume ourselves. It’s like a cry for help“, he points out. And to add that the voice of young people from working-class neighborhoods is not listened to enough, not heard enough. “We would like to express ourselves with more calm, but when we do, we are not taken seriously. There’s only one solution to show that we’re here“.

In 2005, “it was not the same”

A little over a week after the death of Nahel, this teenager killed during a police check in Hauts-de-Seine, how does Mohamed analyze the violence triggered by this tragedy today? Whether it’s the feeling of being abandoned by the state or being victims of injustice, basically, things haven’t changed much, he believes: “The state hasn’t changed its ways… and neither have we. 18 years later, we still think that the only solution is to break“.

Before, however, to point out some notable differences between 2005 and today. “This time, the policeman was indicted for intentional homicide. That’s not bad. This may have calmed some of them down.“. In the case of the death of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, it was only a year after the events, on February 8, 2007, that the two police officers were indicted for failure to assist a person in danger. .

And then, in twenty years, there is a notable difference with the scenes of looting of shops that the French have discovered: “Today, they still have the same problems, but what changes is the goal. We, in 2005, weren’t aiming to make money… We were really at war with the police. It was the police and the symbols of the state that were targeted“.

Mohamed points to social networks: “We were connected in 2005, but it was not the same. When we were outside, we were no longer connected. Today, social networks allow to organize, to make strategies. In 2005, it worked by word of mouth. Today, we see that young people are better organized.

“The suburbs for young people are worse than prison”

Now, at 37, Mohamed also finds that the map of riots has widened. If the violence triggered by the death of Nahel mainly took place in the city centers, in 2005, it was different. “The violence was mainly in the neighborhoods. It happened downstairs. It was land we knew and it allowed us to take refuge“, he points out.

As for the political reactions, Mohamed notes that there is some improvement, in part. “Before, we had Nicolas Sarkozy who spoke of ‘cleaning up cities with Kärcher’. There were bidding. We really felt a kind of climate of war. Today, communication has changed a bit“, before emphasizing that certain political reactions challenge him: “When I hear the prefect [de l’Hérault] to say that children have to be ‘two slaps and go to bed’ is serious. It’s a guardian of the law who says that!“

And when we talk to him about the future, Mohamed doesn’t dare answer right away, for fear of being too pessimistic. Father of a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl, he recounts his concern: “I fear the future for my children. Especially for my boy. I’m afraid he’s a victim of the police. I’m afraid he’ll take part in riots“. But he clings to one wish: that his children come out of the suburbs.”We must hope to leave the suburbs. Otherwise, they will find themselves in the same state as me to be here, 30 years later. And that, for young people, is worse than prison, worse than death, worse than anything“.