Unrest in France wants to suppress the purge of social networks

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the country’s authorities and law enforcement officers will use “additional means” to combat the riots that have been going on for the third day. Macron announced this on the afternoon of June 30 following an emergency interdepartmental meeting. Broadcast performance was conducted on the YouTube channel of the Elysee Palace.

He added that measures would be taken by the authorities to “identify those who use social media to call for disorder or incite violence.” “In the coming hours, we will take steps to arrange for the removal of content [из соцсетей]”, the president said. In addition, Macron called on French parents to “show responsibility”, recalling that a third of those detained by the police are minors. “We see an unacceptable use of the death of a teenager, which we all regret,” he concluded, announcing that there would be “further steps by the authorities.”

In the morning, before the meeting, Macron warned that he was ready to take emergency measures to maintain order. Delegate Minister for Housing Olivier Klein, on the air of the BFM television channel, allowed the introduction of a state of emergency.

The riots in France began after the police killed a 17-year-old youth of Algerian origin, Nael M. On June 27, Nael, while driving a car, after a series of traffic violations, refused to obey law enforcement officers in the city of Nanterre (a university suburb of the capital, famous for student riots in May 1968 – Note . “Vedomosti”). The policeman claims that he fired shots at the car because Nael M. was driving straight at him, but this is not confirmed by the data from the security cameras. The Nanterre police launched an investigation into the attempt on the life of a police officer. The lawyer for the family of the deceased, Yassin Buzu, calls the statement of the Nanterre police “a lie.” The General Inspectorate of the National Police, in turn, opened a case of murder by a person in the exercise of official authority.

The mother of the deceased teenager organized protests in Nanterre, which turned into riots and pogroms. Already on June 28, they affected the metropolitan region of Ile-de-France, except for Nanterre directly – Suresnes, Asnieres-sur-Seine, Gennevilliers, La Garin-Colombes and Villeneuve (satellite cities of Paris), the suburbs of Lyon, Toulouse, Marseille and others. Protesters using Molotov cocktails. In Mons-en-Barel in northern France, the town hall was set on fire, and there were attacks on other administrative buildings and police stations. Macron called such violence “unjustified.” From the beginning of the riots and as of 14:25 Moscow time on June 30, the police detained 875 people, 408 of them in the area of ​​responsibility of the capital’s prefecture of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to the agency, 249 policemen and gendarmes were injured in the clashes. On the evening of June 29, Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced that an additional 40,000 police officers had been deployed on patrol throughout the country. In the metropolitan region of Ile-de-France, from June 30, the municipal operator cancels the evening movement of buses and passenger urban electric transport “until further notice”. In Marseille, the largest city in southern France, the authorities banned all gatherings in the evening. A number of schools have been closed and graduations have been postponed.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing opposition movement New People’s Ecological and Social Union, condemned the actions of the police, emphasizing that “there is no death penalty in France, no policeman has the right to kill.” According to the politician, the French police “should be completely rebuilt.” He recalled that in 2022, 13 people died at the hands of the police while trying to detain them. National Secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF), former presidential candidate Fabien Roussel also hopes that the investigation “will establish the circumstances of the use of weapons by the police.” “Justice must be restored,” he stressed. At the same time, the ex-presidential candidate from the right-wing National Rally and its former leader Marine Le Pen supported the actions of the police. “I am for the presumption of self-defense for the police forces,” she stressed.

Berlin “is watching with some concern what is happening in France,” German government spokesman Steffen Hebestrait said on Friday. At the same time, he indicated that at the moment he sees no signs of canceling Macron’s state visit to Germany, scheduled for the evening of Sunday 2 July. Britain, Norway and other European countries issued warnings to their citizens about the danger of the situation in France.

In general, what happened reveals the difficulties with the integration of migrants and their descendants in the first generation into French society, as can be seen from the brief biography of the deceased teenager that got into the media, says Pavel Timofeev, head of the department of European political studies at IMEMO RAS. According to radio station Europe 1, the deceased was involved in 15 judicial investigations. This, according to Timofeev, is also another test for Macron and his government: now they are interested in ensuring that the investigation is fair, but the situation has returned to normal without major consequences for law enforcement agencies.

He also adds that there is a split in French society over the reaction to what happened. Thus, the left sees “police lawlessness” and calls for limiting the actions of law enforcement officers, focuses on a biased attitude towards the French of Arab and African descent, and calls for police reform. “The left is using the situation to criticize Macron, to strengthen its popularity, but without getting involved in the protests. Macron is also criticized by the right-wingers, but on the side of the police and from a position of distrust towards migrants and their descendants,” Timofeev notes.

The expert sees the further direction of the public discussion in France in how to prevent recidivism, whether to limit the right of the police to use weapons. “Besides, it is a question of whether to force them to wear video recorders,” says Timofeev.