Paris.- The French government makes an effort to emphasize that the riots that have taken place over the last six nights following the death by police shooting of a minor under 17 years of age are not a social revolt in the sensitive neighborhoods of the country, but rather an outbreak of violence groups of young offenders.
“It is not the failure of the French model,” sources from the Executive stressed on Monday, insisting that what is happening now in France is a situation that is being experienced or has been experienced in other countries, such as Germany, Belgium, Switzerland or Canada, and that there is a general problem with young people resorting to violence.
The sources refute some of the ideas that have circulated, especially abroad, to explain these altercations, assuring that “it is not a revolt in sensitive” neighborhoods. In the first place, because the vast majority of its inhabitants are very angry with this outbreak of violence.
They are the first victims, they remarked, due to the destruction of hundreds of public service buildings, such as town halls, schools, libraries or police stations, but also due to the looting of shops and the burning of thousands of their cars.
In addition, the Government insists that in the last 30 years the State has made efforts for these sensitive neighborhoods, with successive urban renewal plans, and in particular since the arrival at the Elysee in 2017 of the current president, Emmanuel Macron, with his policies to promote equal opportunities and the emancipation of young people.
In summary, behind these riots, what there are “acts of delinquency” and “looting”, with very young perpetrators, as evidenced by the fact that the median age is 17 years and that a third of the more than 3,400 detainees in the last days are minors.
Regarding the accusations of racism and discriminatory attitudes by the police, the Executive denies that they can be generalized.
In addition, his message in this regard is very clear: “France is a State of Law” in which the law applies equally to everyone, and this includes the police, who are not exempt from complying with them, for whom “there is no favorable treatment” and that they are highly controlled.
The Government has wanted to qualify some figures that have been much commented on in recent days, in light of the death of the young Nahel in Nanterre on the 27th by a shot by a police officer who shot him when he was trying to skip a checkpoint.
Above all, that of the 13 deaths that occurred last year at the hands of the police when they forced controls. A number that is much higher than that of the two previous years (there had been two and four, respectively), but also the trend of 2023, with three deaths in the first semester.
Beyond noting that the virulence of the riots has diminished in the last two nights, particularly from Sunday to Monday, the Executive acknowledges that this outbreak “is far from over.”
And although he acknowledges that these episodes can favor populist discourses, particularly those of the extreme right, he repeats that the political response must be “responsible” and that for his part he does not want to stigmatize certain social groups or fracture the country.
