Violence in France | Mayor’s house attacked, Nahel’s grandmother appeals for calm

(Paris) The violent car-ramming attack on the home of the mayor of a suburb of Paris provoked unanimous indignation in France, where a return to calm took shape on Sunday evening after five nights of riots following the death of a 17-year-old boy, killed by a policeman.

As of 1:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m. Eastern Time), law enforcement had made 78 arrests nationwide, according to the Interior Ministry, and no major incidents were reported. In Paris and its inner suburbs, 20 people were arrested at 1 a.m. (7 p.m. Eastern time), according to the police headquarters.

The shock caused by the attack on the mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, a town of 30,000 inhabitants in the southern suburbs of Paris, had pushed into the background the decline in violence already observed in the night from Saturday to Sunday. in many cities.

After these facts, in a context of resurgence of attacks targeting elected officials, the population is invited to gather Monday at noon in front of all the town halls of France.

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to receive the presidents of the two assemblies also on Monday, then the mayors of more than 220 municipalities targeted by violence on Tuesday. He also asked his prime minister to meet the presidents of the parliamentary groups on Monday.

The Head of State also wishes to “begin meticulous and longer-term work to understand in depth the reasons that led to these events”, according to the Elysée.

In five nights of riots until Sunday morning, the Ministry of the Interior counted some 5,000 vehicles burned, nearly 1,000 buildings burned or degraded, 250 attacks on police stations or gendarmeries, and more than 700 members of the forces of the wounded order.

“Trust in Justice”

After this sudden surge of violence over a large territory, would the calls for calm begin to carry? Sunday afternoon, the grandmother of the teenager killed last Tuesday in Nanterre, west of Paris, during a traffic check after a refusal to comply sent a message to the rioters.

“Let them not break the windows, let them not break the schools, not the buses,” urged Nadia on BFMTV.

“Tired”, “devastated”, she asked that the policeman who killed the shot pay for his gesture “like everyone else”, ensuring that he had “trust in justice”.

A few hours earlier, several politicians feared that “a milestone” had been “crossed” during the attack which targeted the first magistrate of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Sunday around 1:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m. Eastern time), when a car-ram loaded with incendiary products entered the compound of his home while he was in his town hall.

Justice has opened an investigation for “attempted murder”.

While fleeing with her two young children, the wife of Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun, Mélanie Nowak, departmental councilor and deputy mayor, fractured her tibia and was hospitalized for surgery.

“There is no doubt that they wanted to burn the house” and, when “they realized that there was someone inside, far from stopping, on the contrary, they triggered a salvo of fireworks mortar fire which was completely mad”, testified Vincent Jeanbrun on television.

“I never would have imagined that my family would be threatened with death”, he was indignant, calling for “a republican start”.

Device renewed

For the third consecutive night, a massive device was maintained in France, with 45,000 gendarmes and police mobilized.

Seized by an amateur video that contradicted the initial story delivered by the police, the point-blank shooting of a biker and the death of Nahel, 17, in Nanterre on the outskirts of the capital shocked the very top of the state. , set the country ablaze and resonated far beyond the French borders.

Several European countries, including Britain, have updated their travel advice advising them not to travel to areas affected by the violence. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “concerned” about the riots in France on Sunday.

This wave of violence and the anger of many young residents of working-class neighborhoods against police or state violence recalled the riots that shook France in 2005, after the death of two teenagers pursued by the police. In three weeks, 10,000 vehicles had been destroyed, more than 200 public buildings burned down and some 5,200 people arrested.