Criticism and plans to file lawsuits have grown over the Gofundme initiative of Jean Messiha, who faces accusations that his real motive was to spread a message of hate and pit the far right against residents of poor suburbs with a high index of people of immigrant origin.
Even Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said that raising funds for the jailed agent’s family did not help to calm the situation, as has Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti, who warned on France-Inter radio about a possible “ instrumentalization”.
The riots broke out after the shooting last Tuesday against the young man identified as Nahel, who was arrested while driving a Mercedes in the suburbs of Paris. The violence was spearheaded mostly by teenagers in the suburbs and urbanization projects against a French state that, according to many young people with an immigrant background, systematically discriminates against them. On Tuesday, the violence appeared to continue to subside for the third night in a row.
However, early on Sunday reports surfaced of the death of a 27-year-old man in Marseille. The local prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Tuesday for “fatal blows with the use or threat of a weapon,” the daily La Marseillaise reported.
The probable cause of death was a “violent shock to the thorax caused by a ‘flashball’-type projectile” routinely used by French police for riot control.
It is currently unknown if the victim, who was not identified, was in the area of the riots and looting the night he died, the prosecutor’s office told the newspaper.
Messiha, for his part, celebrated in a tweet what he said was a “historical symbol of national generosity” by announcing the closure of the fundraising campaign at midnight on Tuesday for the family of the jailed agent, identified only as Florian M. .
He said more than 100,000 donors contributed to the effort which began on Friday and reached more than 1.5 million euros. He likened the response to a “tsunami” in support of police officers “who somehow fight every day to keep France France.”
FUENTE: Associated Press
