The main answers to the riots in France: is Macron now declaring a state of emergency?

Residents of the poor banlieues and human rights activists take to the streets in their thousands. They think the French police are racist. In addition, according to the activists, the agents get away with it too often to be punished if they act brutally. For them, this is partly due to institutional racism in the police system and in France itself.

Crystal Fleming, a sociology professor at Stony Brook University who researches racism in the US and France, told France24: “I really wonder how many more people will have to experience such levels of brutality before it is recognized that the systemic racism in France is real and must be addressed.”

It is already the third riot night in France. There were even protests in Belgium. A bank branch was set on fire in Nanterre near Paris on Thursday evening and the flames spread to a residential building. In the port city of Marseille, hundreds of protesters clashed with police, shops were looted and 14 people were arrested. Special police units were deployed in Lille, Lyon and Bordeaux. In Grenoble, a bus was fired at with fireworks.

According to police sources, elite units were also sent to Toulouse, Nantes, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux and Rennes. Police prepared for further violent protests and “attacks against law enforcement officials and state symbols,” according to an internal letter.

According to the Interior Ministry, 667 people were arrested on Friday evening and 249 police officers were injured. Across the country, 40,000 police officers were present overnight to counter the riots, 5,000 of them in Paris. The capital convened a crisis team.

Nahel M.’s death on Tuesday was the third fatal shooting at a traffic control in France in 2023, a French police spokesman said. The incident has sparked longstanding complaints of police brutality and racism within law enforcement. Although there are no precise statistics due to a lack of data, in a European comparison, the French police are considered by experts to be particularly aggressive.

Then there is the situation in the banlieues. The situation there has been relatively calm in recent years. The current government partly explains this with better access to jobs under President Emmanuel Macron (45) and more investment in the poorer suburbs. But the ingredients of the riots have remained: hatred of the police, drug-related crime and the feeling that French politics no longer works.

No. Riots accompanied by allegations of police brutality can escalate very quickly in France. During the yellow vest protests in 2018 and 2019, violence increased as protesters vented their anger in the streets and security forces cracked down.

In 2005, then-President Nicolas Sarkozy (68) was accused of sowing unrest by saying he wanted to ‘clean up’ the suburbs. Even then, the situation escalated and riots broke out for weeks. To put an end to the unrest, the government was forced to declare a state of emergency. Given the current situation, France could face a similar threat today and a new level of escalation could be reached.

The timing of Nahel M.’s tragic death couldn’t be worse for Macron. France has just emerged from weeks of protests against reforms that raised the statutory retirement age from 62 to 64. Macron is also still weak from losing his majority in last year’s general election.

Macron convened a crisis meeting on Friday afternoon. Given the ongoing riots in France, he appealed to parents to take their responsibility. A third of those arrested last night were young people. Macron said this on Friday after an inter-ministerial crisis meeting in Paris. “And I appeal to the sense of responsibility of mothers and fathers. The Republic is not called to take their place,” the president said.

Macron also announced that additional security forces would be deployed to contain the nationwide unrest. The Interior Ministry will mobilize “additional resources” to fight the violent protests and denounced the “unacceptable exploitation of the death of an adolescent”.

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