“Democracy itself has been attacked. This cannot and will not continue,” proclaimed Vincent Jeanbrun, the mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses, whose home was attacked on Saturday during a march against the violence that has left France to its very foundations shake. With Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne declaring that the “priority is the return to republican order”, the security apparatus remains in place almost a week after young Nahel’s death at the hands of a police officer, when the mood of revolt seems to give way to calm.
The demonstrations that brought together local elected representatives and citizens from across the country calling for a “return to republican order” took place after Jeanbrun’s home was hit by a burning car, injuring his wife and one of his children when they fled from the attack. It also sparked outrage.
The Interior Ministry maintained the mobilization of 45,000 police officers to quell the disturbances, which have eased but could flare up again after a fundraiser for the family of the policeman arrested for Nahel’s death raised a million dollars. of euros. On Sunday night, three police officers were injured and 157 people were arrested, out of a total of more than 3,200. According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, the average age of those arrested is 17 years old. According to BFMTV, 120 people had been arrested by Sunday.
President Emmanuel Macron today receives the mayors of more than 220 municipalities affected by violence. According to de Eliseu, the head of state wants to “start a detailed and lengthy process to thoroughly understand the reasons that led to these events”.
Arnaud Benedetti, a professor at the Paris-Sorbonne University, has some answers. In an interview with Le Figaro, claims that the attack on the mayor’s house was an “act of guerrilla warfare” part of what he calls “secessionism” that is gaining ground in many parts of France. “These are tools of terror in the service of an apparently nihilistic totalitarianism, which is not necessarily the case. There are also “communitarian-religious” strands that are manifesting in this explosion,” he says. And to face the problem: “the struggle is above all cultural, but it must be accompanied by a contract in which assimilation goes hand in hand with the struggle against social, territorial and educational inequalities”.
Erdogan enters the field
The Turkish president could not resist giving his opinion on the French uprising. “In countries known for their colonial past, cultural racism has turned into institutional racism,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on TV. “The origin of the events that started in France is the social architecture built by this mentality. The majority of immigrants condemned to live in ghettos and systematically oppressed are Muslims,” he stated.
In recent years, Erdogan has not shied away from interfering in the internal politics of other – mostly Western – countries, in addition to interventions on behalf of Muslims and against colonialism, a speech that finds a wide audience not only in the Middle East, but also in Africa, where Ankara has an ambitious program of economic and cultural expansion.
The Turkish leader has maintained a tense relationship with the Élysée – even saying Emmanuel Macron was “brain dead” in response to the interview in which the French president declared NATO in that state, or months later called for a boycott of French products following of Macron’s defense of the teacher beheaded for showing Mohammed cartoons.
In his speech, the Turkish president also condemned the looting and disturbances that accompanied the protests. “The streets cannot be used to seek justice. However, it is clear that the authorities must also learn from the social explosion,” he concluded.
Source: DN
