“There is a real need to restore this authority”, maintains the prefect of Paris Laurent Nuñez

The profile of adolescents implicated in brawls has not changed in recent years, but “these are still young people who isolate themselves, who are in a form of individualism”, notes the prefect of Paris on France Inter.

“There is a real need to restore this authority”supports the prefect of Paris, Laurent Nuñez, on France Inter, Friday April 19, the day after the measures announced by Gabriel Attal to deal with violence committed by certain minors. The number of clashes between gangs of young people remains “relatively stable” in the Paris metropolitan area, “but we see that the protagonists are younger and younger and are using more and more weapons by destination”explains the prefect. “We can clearly see that we have a rise in violence that obviously needs to be contained and stopped quickly”he continues.

The profile of adolescents involved in brawls has not changed in recent years, but “these are still young people who isolate themselves, who are in a form of individualism, where the general interest disappears a little”notes Laurent Nuñez. “Among a certain number of young people, sometimes adolescents, we can clearly see that there is a shift towards violence which is occurring much more quickly than before or, in any case, that the slightest conflict can immediately lead to violent acts and gestures.”

The prefect of Paris assumes to speak of “decivilization”as Emmanuel Macron did, on May 24, 2023, by evoking a “process of decivilization” at the end of the Council of Ministers. This term “takes on its full meaning when we see these clashes between young people, sometimes for extremely futile reasons”says the prefect.

“The Minority Excuse”

Gabriel Attal explained on Thursday that he wanted a debate on the “mitigations” has “minority excuse”. This principle makes it possible to mitigate the sentence imposed on a minor because of their age. “As for the police and gendarmes, this is a debate that we are obviously awaiting with great impatience”reports Laurent Nuñez. “This question is legitimate if we want to have sanctions that are truly appropriate, if we want to give a strong signal to avoid any slippage”he believes.

Furthermore, the prefect of Paris says he sees Islamic separatism “developing for several years”. According to him, this phenomenon is not “not new”but he “leads a certain number of young people to isolate themselves” and causes “violent behavior or behavior aimed at stigmatizing other young people because they do not obey certain religious precepts”.