Riots in France: thousands of arrested, incl. 13 year olds

After the funeral of 17-year-old Nael in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, which went quietly and without incident, French authorities fear more unrest during the night as anger does not appear to have subsided.

A total of 45,000 police officers are deployed across the country, with reinforced forces in Marseille and Lyon, where clashes and unrest have been particularly violent in recent days. Yesterday, new traffic restrictions and a curfew were introduced, which are likely to be in place in the coming days.

Emmanuel Macron has postponed his official visit to Germany indefinitely due to unrest. International media have noted that the French president is forced to postpone diplomatic processes for the second time, recalling the cancellation of the visit of Charles III to Paris due to large strikes over a pension plan that rocked the country a few months ago.

The gamble for a government that does not have a parliamentary majority is that it will be able to control the demonstrations and force them to retreat so as not to impose a state of emergency, which the far right and right insist on, which it does not rule out.

Such a decision, however, risks becoming an admission of the government’s inability to control the crisis, which, although it did not declare a state of emergency, nonetheless adopted emergency measures with significant restrictions on rights.

The number of arrests is shocking, reaching 2,300 by Saturday afternoon, a third of them minors. The average age of those arrested is 17, and, according to ministerial statements, among the “troublemakers” there are noThere are several 13 year olds.

https://twitter.com/L_ThinkTank/status/1675246691392409600

Responsibility for parents
Government officials, following the “Macron line” that was formulated as a recommendation to parents from working-class neighborhoods to get their children off the streets, went further by “warning” parents that they could face criminal charges, facing charges including 2 years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros if they do not discipline the young “troublemakers”.

The social causes of the uprising of young French people of African or Asian descent are missing from the narrative of a government that, like previous governments, is trying to sweep under the carpet the racism, exclusion and police brutality that French citizens with immigrant roots have suffered for decades.

Macron may not be using – at least not yet – far-right terminology to describe rebellious youth, as Sarkozy has done in the past, but it is not absent from the public debate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3bQ04Vhfe4

Pressure from the far right
Police unions speak of “hordes of parasites” while stating that the French police are not racist, while the right and far right are calling for more brutal repression.

For example, the right-wing mayor of Evreux, Normandy, wrote to Macron asking him to call up an army, “warning” that the inhabitants of his city would be “forced” to defend themselves.

Melenchon’s Left is opening up a debate about the causes of the riots and is calling for a curtailment of police brutality while calling for the restoration of calm. The Socialist Party is an ally of Melenchon, but accused him today of not condemning the riots strongly enough and making it a priority to stop the incidents so that real problems can be discussed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udzpX1f5zHw

New evidence that fueled anger
Young protesters attacked police stations, city hall buildings and shops, mostly large “firms”. Well-known and expensive networks become a target not only for destruction, but also for robbery. Eyewitnesses report that after the “invasion” of a well-known sports store, the crowd began to distribute shoes and more.

Often, it is this side that is most highlighted in incidents and can “justify” more serious repressions. Today, however, a witness to the murder of Nael revealed new information that caused even more anger. According to him, one of the police officers advised his colleague to shoot the young man after he hit him for no reason.

The government hopes that after today’s funeral and the deployment of police forces on the streets, he will be able to at least reduce the intensity of events.

The situation is getting tighter in Paris. pic.twitter.com/aoPHvlYbzy

— S p r i n t e r F a c t o r y (@Sprinterfactory) July 1, 2023

As a symbolic gesture, Elisabeth Bronn will be at police headquarters in Paris today to be able to “closely monitor” operations on the streets of the French capital.

The police are disappointed

But what made a big impression was a letter from police unions to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Police Unions in #France have written to #Macron threatening to revolt.

“Today the police are in combat as we are at war. Tomorrow we will be in the resistance and the government should be aware of this”pic.twitter.com/P0gZI7Q7tC

— Patrick Henningsen (@21WIRE) July 1, 2023

“The police are fighting today. But tomorrow we will be in resistance, and the government must know about it.”

In a word, the police are very disappointed with the French president, who, as victims of scapegoats, does not allow them to react sharply to this uprising, in fact, the children of immigrants, and allows them to destroy the country under the pretext of killing a 17-year-old teenager.

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