Several politicians are calling for the closure of this kitty, launched by the far-right polemicist Jean Messiha. The American platform GoFundMe, on which it is hosted, ensures that it is “compliant” with its rules.
“Support for the Nanterre policeman’s family”. Far-right polemicist Jean Messiha opened an online fundraiser on Friday June 30 to help the family of the police officer indicted and placed in pre-trial detention after the fatal shooting that targeted Nahel, 17, during a traffic check. in Nanterre. More than one million euros has already been collected, Monday July 3 at the beginning of the afternoon, for the family of the civil servant “who has done his job and who today pays a high price”is it written in description on the page hosted by the American crowdfunding platform GoFundMe, which manages the kitty.
>> Violence after the death of Nahel: follow our live
On Twitter, the initiative of this close friend of Eric Zemmour aroused the indignation of several political leaders, who accused its creator of blowing “on the embers”, after several nights of riots. Monday evening, Elisabeth Borne estimated that “the fact that it is indeed a person close to the extreme right who launched this kitty does not undoubtedly contribute to bringing appeasement”. We explain the reasons for this controversy.
A first kitty quickly suspended
A first kitty was first launched Thursday on the French platform Leetchi, before being suspended “after 20 minutes, when it reached almost 5,000 euros”according a tweet by Jean Messiha. On the Leetchi site, it is specified that the kitty is “being verified”.
The French crowdfunding platform requested several supporting documents from the senior official who had passed through the ENA, including “the valid identity document of the policeman’s wife”but also “a document that can attest to their link”, as well as a bank details of the wife, details the polemicist in an Instagram post, in which he mocks these requests from the platform.
A second pot opened and more than one million euros raised in four days
As soon as the suspension by Leetchi was recorded, Jean Messiha opened a new kitty on Friday, this time on the American site GoFundMe. The next day, it reached 200,000 euros, which the polemicist rejoiced in a video tour for the occasion. “Thousands of you gave in support of this policeman”he welcomed.
The same day, the continuous news channel CNews, taking advantage of the presence of the former spokesperson for Eric Zemmour during the presidential campaign on its set, relays the existence of this kitty. Jean Messiha did not fail to share the sequence on his social networks, ensuring that the police officer indicted for intentional homicide had “just does his job” by shooting the teenager, and denouncing “the hallali” of which it would be “victim”.
Since then, the 50-year-old has continued to promote his initiative on social networks, ensuring that contributing to the pot allows participants to prove their “love” for law enforcement. By early Monday afternoon, the online piggy bank had exceeded one million euros, with more than 50,000 donors for donations ranging from 5 to 3,000 euros.
A pot also created for the family of Nahel
On social networks, this kitty is compared to another, launched “in support of Nahel’s mother” by an anonymous person, and which gathered more than 170,000 euros on Monday noon. On Twitter, the polemicist publicly rejoiced at this difference, assuming to put his kitty in competition with the initiative created according to him in support of a “multi-recidivist offender (…) by the leftist racillo-sphere”.
This last accusation concerning Nahel had been denied by one of the lawyers of the victim’s family on Wednesday June 28 on franceinfo. Jennifer Campla had assured that the teenager had no “never been convicted” and that’“he [avait] a clean criminal record”. She made it clear that he was “known to the police, which is not the same thing, since in the processing of criminal records, he was not tried for anything”.
Calls launched to close an “indecent and scandalous” kitty
Since its creation, Jean Messiha’s kitty has been relayed by far-right accounts, including the identity sites Fdesouche and Boulevard Voltaire. In this explosive context, the controversy has continued to swell on Twitter, where tens of thousands of people have demanded its closure from the American platform using the hashtag “#GofundmeComplice”.
Many personalities, especially on the left, have also denounced this initiative. The president of SOS Racisme, Dominique Sopo, thus estimated that this kitty was a “ignominy” launched by a “far-right clown”. The deputy La France insoumise of Seine-Saint-Denis, Thomas Portes, taxed the platform to be “compensation accomplice of a killer”. Olivier Faure also called for the pot to be closed, addressing the platform directly. “You maintain an already gaping fracture by participating in the support of a police officer indicted for intentional homicide. Close!”, was thus indignant the first secretary of the PS.
Eric Bothorel, Renaissance MP for Côtes-d’Armor, accused Jean Messiha to blow “on the embers” with this initiative “indecent and scandalous”which he sees as a “riot generator”. For his part, Eric Ciotti said on LCI understand the approach of the former spokesperson for Eric Zemmour. “That we support the family of a police officer who is also in a trial today, it does not seem shocking to me”said Monday morning the president of the Republicans, who assures that he could participate.
GoFundMe assures that the initiative is “compliant” with its rules
Faced with criticism and repeated requests to close the kitty, the GoFundMe platform reacted to BFMTV, assuring that the initiative was “compliant” to its terms of use, “because the funds will be paid directly to the family in question”. “The family has been added as a beneficiary and therefore the funds will be paid directly to them”explained a spokesperson for the American company.
The question of a suspension had been raised, since, in its terms of use, the platform stipulates that it is forbidden to raise funds for any content or user that “incites or promotes behavior deemed, in our sole discretion, to be an abuse of power or incitement to terrorism, hatred, violence, harassment, intimidation, discrimination”.
In 2019, the “yellow vest” Christophe Dettinger, who had been filmed fighting against the police, could not receive the 145,000 euros collected for him on another platform, Leetchi, as recalled Release. Faced with the outcry, the French company had closed the kitty, citing non-compliance with its general conditions of use which “prohibit any incitement to hatred or violence”.