2023-06-30 12:30:00
RIOTS – After two nights of “unbearable violence” in several cities of the country following the death of Nahel, President Emmanuel Macron convened this Thursday, June 29 an interministerial crisis meeting. The day after his statement from Marseille, where he expressed his “solidarity” and his “affection” for the family of the victim by evoking a gesture “inexplicable” et “inexcusable”, the Head of State has changed his tone and denounced “scenes of unjustifiable violence”. The announcement of the crisis meeting and the measures expected since Wednesday evening, already marked by intense clashes with the police, did not prevent the head of the Élysée from going to the Accor Arena in Paris to attend… the Elton John concert.
Nahel, a 17-year-old young man, was killed on Tuesday in Nanterre by a police officer who fired his weapon at point-blank range, as part of a hit-and-run. “At the end of his police custody, the police officer implicated for having used his weapon was brought before two investigating magistrates as part of the opening of a judicial investigation for intentional homicide”, detailed the prosecutor during a press conference. The policeman was remanded in custody late yesterday.
According to the information collected by the prosecution, including the testimony of police officers and images from video surveillance, the police reported Tuesday at 7:55 a.m. a yellow Mercedes-AMG Class traveling at high speed in a bus lane, “presenting a danger to pedestrians and cyclists”.
The two police officers tried to stop the vehicle using the siren and verbal instructions to the driver, but the vehicle “restarted running through the red light”. According to the prosecutor, the vehicle was forced to stop further, blocked by a traffic jam.
The police, who positioned themselves to the left of the vehicle, took out their weapons and pointed them at the driver, asking him to cut off the ignition. It was when the vehicle restarted that one of the two police officers fired once, hitting the teenager first in the left arm, then in the chest. Nahel was pronounced dead at 9:15 a.m.
Despite the violence, Macron goes to the concert of Elton John
Of the videos of the police shooting and the crash of the car into street furniture have circulated widely on social networks. Violence broke out on Tuesday evening in several cities in France, starting with Nanterre, Garges-lès-Gonesse, Issy-les-Moulineaux but also Lille, Lyon and Toulouse. On Wednesday, the mayor of Nanterre, Patrick Jarry (DVG), called for calm and demanded “Justice for Nahel”. “Our city wakes up shocked, damaged, scarred and worried by this surge of violence”did he declare. “We want justice and we will get it.”
The president also reacted. Wednesday in Marseille, Emmanuel Macron expressed “the emotion of the whole nation”in “solidarity” and his “affection” with the victim’s family. “A teenager killed, it is inexplicable and inexcusable. Justice has been seized. I hope that it does its job quickly and calmly”, he added. Regarding the violent riots that broke out in several cities, the head of the Élysée simply stressed the need to have “calm everywhere because we don’t need to have any kindling”.
We share the emotion and pain of the family and loved ones of young Naël. I want to tell them our solidarity and the Nation’s affection.
Justice was immediately seized.…
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 28, 2023
This is then the only reaction to the Élysée. Yet the with of this first night of urban violence is already alarming: around forty cars burned in France, town halls, schools and police stations were attacked or set on fire in several towns. 31 people were arrested and 24 members of the security forces injured. 350 police and gendarmes had been mobilized in the Hauts-de-Seine department, mainly in Nanterre, out of a total of 1,200 around Paris. Not enough to prematurely end Macron’s three-day visit to Marseille, or even compromise his Wednesday evening program?
On Twitter, a video of the president, filmed outside the Accor Arena in Paris, is widely shared. The tenant of the Élysée was in Bercy where the concert of Elton John took place, his last in France during the final tour of his career. A presence alongside Patrick Bruel or even Lenny Kravitz was confirmed by media. “While France is burning, Emmanuel Macron is at the Elton John concert”denounce Internet users. “The country is on fire and blood and he allows himself to go see the concert”lamented a citizen interviewed by RMC.
40,000 police and gendarmes mobilized this Thursday evening
A presence that arouses indignation because the urban violence has precisely doubled in intensity during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. Despite the mobilization of 2,000 police officers, in Île-de-France alone, witnesses evoke “scenes of war” or “d’apocalypse”. A “unbearable violence” against “state symbols”, including police stations, town halls and schools. Gérard Darmanin revealed that 150 people were arrested, expressing his support for the police and gendarmes, who count 170 injuredas well as firefighters.
A night of unbearable violence against symbols of the Republic: town halls, schools and police stations set on fire or attacked. 150 arrests. Support for the police, gendarmes and firefighters who face up with courage. Shame on those who did not call for calm.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) June 29, 2023
This Thursday, President Macron, who called an interministerial crisis meeting at the Ministry of the Interior, changed his tone. He denounced “scenes of unjustifiable violence”expressing his wish that “the next few hours” are those of “recollection” a you “respect”on the occasion of a white march scheduled for Thursday in Nanterre, in tribute to Nahel.
Violence against police stations, schools, town halls, against the Republic, is unjustifiable.
Thank you to the police, gendarmes, firefighters and elected officials mobilized.
Meditation, Justice and calm must guide the next few hours.
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 29, 2023
Gérald Darmanin, who ruled out any establishment of a possible nationwide curfew as demanded by certain personalities, including the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti, accused “organisations” to be behind the violence. He also announced that he had requested the administrative suspension of the police officer in question, already in police custody.
The presence of the police has been reinforced for this Thursday with 40,000 police and gendarmes at the national level, including 5,000 in the Paris region, a number four times greater than that of Wednesday evening. Specialized services such as RAID, BRI and GIGN have been mobilized in reserve.
This did not prevent last night from seeing new clashes, with a new level reached in terms of the intensity of the violence: looting of several supermarkets, multiple fires… Violence which also affects urban areas up to then not affected by the riots.
This Friday morning, after qualifying “inexcusable” the new violence, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne brings together several ministers to discuss the situation with Matignon, under extreme tension.
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