Nahel's death exposes rooted division in France: Report

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Spectator
30 Jun 2023 09:34

Divide within France is brewing after the death of seventeen-year-old Nahel M. who was shot dead by a French police officer on Tuesday.

A march for Nahel M. in Nanterre on June 29. (AFP via Getty Images)

In an article published by The Spectator, Titled "France is on the brink, again", Gavin Mortimer argues that French President Emmanuel Macron is facing the "gravest crisis" of his presidency following a third night of chaos across France.

Rioting is mainly concentrated in the Paris region, most notably Nanterre, to the west of the capital, where seventeen-year-old Nahel M. was murdered in cold blood by a French police officer on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, thousands rallied in Nanterre with the mother of Nahel on Thursday in a march to honor him. "No justice, no peace!", the crowds yelled, as well as "Everyone hates the police."

Tensions have been rising with protesters throwing projectiles at police buildings, causing the police to fire tear gas at them.

An anonymous police source confirmed that nearly 6,200 people participated in the protests. Signs like "Police kill," and "Our lives are in danger" were held at the protest.

A divided France

The French government ordered the mobilization of tens of thousands of police officers on Thursday to avoid further escalation of violence.

Cars and garbage were set on fire in various areas of the country, and dozens were detained nationally following fights and rioting that included a tramway carriage being set on fire in a Paris neighborhood.

On Thursday, Macron called for an early morning crisis meeting of his ministers and urged calm. He branded the overnight clashes "unjustifiable" and told the meeting the "last few hours have been marked by scenes of violence against police stations, but also schools and town halls... against institutions and the Republic."

Simultaneously, Macron's statement sparked a backlash from police unions and right-wing lawmakers.

Describing Macron’s remarks as “irresponsible,” Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally said: “Is the act inexcusable? Is it inexplicable? It’s up to the courts to answer… the president is prepared to forget constitutional principles in an attempt to put out a potential fire.”

One of the primary police unions, Alliance, released a statement in response to Macron’s, in which they said “It is inconceivable that the president of the republic, like certain politicians, artists and others, should flout the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary by condemning our colleagues before the judiciary has even given its verdict.”

Additionally, the number of celebrities who shared their stances following the killing of Nahel enraged the right.

The most notable was Kylian Mbappe, the captain of the French soccer team, who tweeted: “I’m hurting for my France… my thoughts are with the family and friends of Naël [sic], this little angel who left far too soon.”

J’ai mal à ma France. 💙🤍💔💔💔
Une situation inacceptable.
Tout mes pensées vont pour la famille et les proches de Naël, ce petit ange parti beaucoup trop tôt.
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) June 28, 2023

"What the death of Nahel has revealed is the deep and bitter division in France. On the one hand there are the inner cities — what the French call “the lost territories of the republic” — and their allies on the far left, and on the other are those who adhere to the values of the republic," Mortimer acknowledged in his article.

Some well-known leftists, like former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, are among the latter. Valls expressed his sympathies to Nahel's family in an interview published in Wednesday's Le Figaro. He added those who "are launching a veritable vendetta against the police without even waiting for the slightest judicial conclusion" were disgusting. Their igniting rhetoric, according to Valls, is "dangerous for our democracy, it fuels violence."

Diminishing Respect for French Authorities

Drivers refused to halt at vehicle checks 27,756 times in 2021, and in 157 of those instances, police opened fire. Jérôme Fourquet, head of France's top political polling firm, claimed in an interview published in Wednesday's Le Parisien newspaper that failing to stop at police checkpoints is a sign of disrespect for the authority of the police. This includes every institution in the republic, whose esteem "has diminished in a whole section of society."

It has been declining for years. An essay that was published in 1993 called the interactions between the police and inner-city teenagers "calamitous." When thousands of people rioted across France for three weeks in 2005, this shared hostility exploded.

Since then, the possibility of another 'similar uprising' has plagued the French establishment, and succeeding administrations have shied away from regaining control of the "lost territories." Instead, they have chosen an appeasement strategy that has led to the development of a parallel society, as per the report.

"But Macron today faces another danger: that of antagonizing a right that has had enough of the anarchy, as well as of a left that it believes is increasingly anti-republican."

The head of the center-right Republicans, Eric Ciotti, unleashed a ferocious attack on the left on Wednesday, calling their anti-police rhetoric of the previous 48 hours "shameful" and "scandalous." Later that day, he posted a picture of himself presenting a wreath at General Charles de Gaulle's monument.

There is no reason to feel guilty about what occurred in Nanterre on Tuesday morning, in the opinion of many on the right, the report debated.

"Has tomorrow arrived? The television pictures and the footage on social media certainly suggest a country in chaos. Emmanuel Macron, the president who coined the phrase “En Meme Temps” [At the same time] must show bold, dexterous, and decisive leadership in the coming days, or he could go down in history as the man who presided over the collapse of his country," the article concluded.