With France being the scene of strong protests and clashes between citizens and authorities in France after the shooting death of a 17-year-old teenager at the hands of the police, the teacher and counselor for the Portuguese Communities in the country, Luísa Semedo, denounces the existence of a structural racism in that force of authority.
Speaking to TSFexplains that in recent months – “perhaps even years” – there has been an “electric” atmosphere in France “and that also contributes to what is happening.”
The case of Nahel -identified only by his first name- during a traffic operation this Tuesday was captured on video and generated commotion throughout the country, especially in residential areas and disadvantaged neighborhoods.
“It is not an isolated case, there are already several cases of this style, of young people who are killed by the police, and that resonates. Those stories that appear from time to time, that young people know and that’s one more”, explains Luísa Semedo, help to create “tension everywhere, in all neighbourhoods”.
“All my black or Arab students have already been controlled by the police”
The life of young people from the poorest suburbs is highlighted by this Portuguese teacher as especially challenging, with young people being “quite discriminated against” because of their ethnicity: “I teach in these areas and therefore I know how things work to give just one example: all my black or arab students have been stopped by the police, while my white students always say that the police only stop them when they are with their black and arab friends.”
Thus, cases like last Tuesday are taken advantage of by young people – who see it as “very unfair” – to “talk about the anger they have with all this.”
The agent is in custody
Luísa Semedo also notes an apparent change in the political reaction to this case, with the protagonists pointing out that “it was the fault of the police”.
The agent responsible for the death was accused of intentional homicide and “placed in pretrial detention,” announced the French Public Ministry (MP). Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude that “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not respected.”
Under French law, preliminary charges mean that investigating judges have strong reasons to suspect that a crime has been committed, but allow time for further investigation before a decision is made on whether to send the case to trial.
Even so, these first differences in the treatment of the case are not enough for the counselor, who points out that, as they are “structural issues, they really need to change in a profound way.”
Changes are needed, he argues, in “the policy of the city and the poorest neighborhoods”, but also “in relation to youth”, which is faced with “very few” measures.
Living on the “periphery” of Paris and in a neighborhood with a “mix of social classes”, Luísa Semedo says that she notices, “for example, that in all the teams that are made for young people in terms of art or music, they always end up being the young people who have greater economic or cultural capital those who are going to take advantage of them”.
Thus, “the poorest young people are always in another part of the city, in other neighborhoods, alone, they do not have much support and they are not framed.”
The solution must go through “or go looking for them, or bring something to the neighborhoods that they can do, not only at an artistic and educational level, but also at work or other things”, with the aim of preventing them from becoming “God bless these neighbourhoods, which are quite poor”.
The French government vowed to restore order on Thursday after two nights of urban violence, announcing it would deploy tens of thousands of police and crack down on neighborhoods where buildings and vehicles were set on fire.
In response, the city of Clamart, in the Paris region, with 54,000 inhabitants, announced in a statement a mandatory nighttime curfew between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. local time (8:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. in Lisbon). ), which will last until the weekend.
The municipality pointed out “the risk of new disturbances of public order” to justify this decision, after two nights of urban disturbances. “Clamart is a safe and calm city, we are determined to keep it that way,” the statement said.
Several members of the executive went to the areas affected by the sudden outbreak of riots, calling for calm but also warning that the violence that injured dozens of police officers and damaged nearly 100 public buildings could not continue.
After a crisis meeting, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the number of police deployed would more than quadruple, from 9,000 to 40,000. In the Paris region alone, the number of seconded agents would more than double to 5,000.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, today considered, for his part, unjustifiable the “scenes of violence” against the “institutions of the Republic”.
Source: TSF
