The tension in France is not abating, while the police equipment has been doubled

Tensions are not easing in France after two nights of major riots following the death of Nahel M. by a police officer. This Thursday, About 6,000 people responded to the call of the young man’s mother who called for a white march in memory of the deceased. “We are doing a riot in memory of my son,” he said in the video, at the suggestion of the person who recorded it.

During the first two hours, mother was parading on a truck surrounded by people wearing white or black T-shirts with the inscription “Justice for Nahel”, until they arrived near the prefecture, where the agent killed the teenager on Tuesday. A minute of silence followed.

Despite the organizers’ demands that everything be “peaceful”, the atmosphere was electrified and before the end of the event, the first acts of urban violence broke out for the third day in a row with the destruction of street furniture, burning cars and several facades of bank agencies and destroyed shops. Local authorities decided to suspend bus and tram services from 21:00 to prevent them from catching fire, and the city of Clamart decided to impose a curfew until Monday morning. “We are in a pressure cooker”commented former Minister of Justice Rachida Dati in an interview on BFMTV.

In the meantime, investigations continue. The public prosecutor of Nanterre announced this morning that the police officer responsible for the fatal shooting will be brought before two investigating judges to be charged with manslaughter. He also gave some details about the events that led to Nahel’s death, confirming the policemen’s testimony until they stopped the car driven by the 17-year-old, but calling into question the legitimacy of the agent’s use of the weapon. “The prosecution believes that the legal requirements for the use of weapons have not been met,” he said. Because of this, the agent was later prosecuted and imprisoned. Police unions condemned the “pressure” of the executive branch for the prosecutor to request the indictment and deprivation of liberty of his colleague, subjecting himself to “justice of the street and social networks”.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne traveled to Garges-lès-Gonesse, where protesters set fire to the town hall a day earlier. There he claimed to understand “the emotion that Nahel’s death arouses”, but strongly condemned the unrest across the country. “Nothing justifies the violence that happened,” said the Prime Minister, at the same time expressing her support for the forces of law and order, which had to face multiple violence two nights in a row.

Numerous right-wing and extreme right-wing voices called on the Government to introduce a state of emergency. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, limited himself to this by persuasion “The state’s response will be extremely firm” against those who disrupt public order and peace, and announced the deployment of an exceptional security apparatus for last night, 40,000 policemen and gendarmes, of which 5,000 must secure the Paris region, where 87 people were arrested the night before.