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France deploys 40,000 police as Macron seeks to
avoid 2005 riots rerun
The killing of a 17-year-old during a police traffic
stop has put the government on edge.
BY CLEA
CAULCUTT
JUNE 29,
2023 2:54 PM CET
PARIS — The
violent unrest that has spread across France since a teenager was killed by
police in a Paris suburb has raised the specter of riots that rocked French
suburbs for weeks in 2005 — and Emmanuel Macron’s government is scrambling to
stop that from happening again.
On Thursday
morning, the French president called an emergency Cabinet meeting in the wake
of overnight clashes in French cities after a 17-year-old was shot by police on
Tuesday during a traffic stop in Nanterre, a western Paris suburb.
The
government decided to cancel all “non-priority” trips by ministers, the
government’s latest move to dial down tensions that are gripping the nation.
Macron’s
own response to the images of a police officer shooting Nahel M.(his full name
has not been given) was swift and unequivocal. While some questioned whether
the police officer had felt threatened by the teenager, the president spoke of
“the emotion of the nation” and said the killing was “inexplicable” and
“inexcusable.”
Instructions
have also been issued to police officers to avoid behavior that would stir up
tensions in France’s impoverished banlieues, according to Paris Playbook.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said some 40,000 police officers were being
deployed across France.
There’s
uncomfortable familiarity between the latest unrest and events that rocked
France almost 20 years ago.
In 2005,
two young men — Zyad Benna and Bouna Traoré — died as they tried to flee a
police checkpoint in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. In the weeks of
riots that followed, youths in the suburbs fought running battles with police
and on some nights, dozens were arrested and hundreds of cars torched. Like
Nahel M., Benna and Traoré were from immigrant backgrounds, and their deaths
fomented a sense of injustice among many.
To bring
the unrest to an end in 2005, the government was forced to declare a state of
emergency.
“I’m
worried that we’ll go through what I faced 18 years ago, in 2005,” said
François Molins, a former prosecutor for northern Paris, where the riots began.
“It’s taking off very quickly. And I hope we won’t face the same [situation]
and everyone will regain their senses,” he said on TV channel France 2.
On
Thursday, Macron again called for calm after 180 people were arrested
overnight, public buildings were attacked, and a tram set alight in a Paris
suburb.
Caught in the crossfire
For Macron,
the timing of Nahel M.’s tragic death could not be worse. France is only just
emerging from weeks of protests over reforms that raised the legal pension age
to 64 from 62.
The
president also had to deal with discontent at home over inflation and a
volatile international landscape dominated by the war in Ukraine. On Thursday,
he headed to Brussels for a meeting with fellow EU leaders.
Eyeing an
opportunity to attack a president who is already weakened after losing his
majority in parliamentary elections last year, the opposition appears to be
cutting the government little slack.
While
government ministers have been calling for calm, several far-left figures have
been accused of stoking tensions. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon tweeted
overnight that “the guard dogs are ordering us to call for calm. We are calling
for justice.”
And then
there’s the situation in the banlieues. In recent years, things have been
relatively calm despite predictions that tensions would rise during the
COVID-19 pandemic. The government says this is, in part, due to greater access
to jobs under Macron and more investment in poorer suburbs.
But the
ingredients for unrest remain — a hatred of the police, drug-related crime, and
a sense that France’s meritocracy no longer functions.
In
impoverished neighborhoods “Kids are fed up because they face police checks all
the time, cops wake up every morning with fear in the pit of their stomachs. So
when you strike a match, tensions flare up,” said French political analyst
Chloé Morin.
“And it’s
all the more complicated to appease the situation, because politicians are
deeply mistrusted as well,” she added.
The French
president knows how quickly unrest involving allegations of police brutality
can escalate in France. During the Yellow Jackets protests of 2018 and 2019,
violence spiraled as protesters unleashed their anger on the streets and
security forces resorted to heavy-handed tactics.
In 2005,
then-President Nicolas Sarkozy was accused of stoking trouble with comments
that he wanted to “clean up” the banlieues.
Macron’s
message is one of appeasement — but there’s no guarantee it will be heard.
Nicolas
Camut, Anthony Lattier et Elisa Bertholomey contributed reporting.
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