Macron sees “peak” of protests after six nights of violence

French President Emmanuelle Macron confirmed on Tuesday that the “peak” of the protests had passed, although he added that he needed to be “very prudent” before confirming that peace had already returned to the country after a week of unrest over the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager. who was shot by a policeman.

The president stated this during a meeting with 302 mayors who these days experienced the degradation and looting of their cities, some directly and personally. Macron announced the launch of an “emergency law” project to speed up the reconstruction of public buildings, means of transport and urban furniture destroyed these days.

At the meeting that took place in the Elysée Palace and lasted four hours, Emmanuel Macron listened to the mayors who reproached him on several occasions for burying the plan in 2018 that was carried out at his request by the former minister Jean-Louis Borloo and that it contained numerous measures for unblocking the poorest neighborhoods and their citizens from the ghettos they have turned into. Some wanted more social measures, and others more firmness and authority. The French head of state promised them that he would work on providing concrete solutions during the summer. Among other things, he evoked the idea of ​​”monitoring and better calling to account, and sometimes better punishing” parents of children who are perpetrators of violence.

Just a few hours earlier, on Monday night, Emmanuel Macron made a surprise visit to a police station in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. According to Le Parisienone of the police officers present told him that he had to “give them [a los padres] in the wallet, because it’s the only thing that works” to hold them accountable. This issue of parental responsibility is something Macron has already highlighted these days, asking Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti to remember that the Penal Code punishes parents who do not take responsibility for the upbringing of their children. And to the police officer who suggested limiting aid or imposing fines, Macron said “why not”. “It would be necessary to be able to financially and easily punish families for the first offense. Some kind of minimum fee for the first stupidity”, she said President.

auxiliary maintenance

The problem was immediately seized by the right, whose president, Eric Ciotti, proposed updating his law that allows the abolition of family assistance for parents of students who are absent from school and also with delinquent children, which was abolished during the mandate of Francois Hollande. The Élysée specified that Macron’s comments were simply thinking out loud and would in no way affect aid to families.

These six nights of uncontrolled violence resulted in the degradation of 1,105 buildings and the burning of 5,892 vehicles, but also affected 200 business establishments that were completely looted, as well as 250 tobacconists and 300 bank branches that were destroyed. According to Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, president of the French employers’ association, it is too early to give a precise figure on the damage suffered by companies, but at least “a billion euros were advanced without counting the damage in tourism”.

Harsh sentences for first-time rioters

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The riots that have engulfed many cities and towns in France these days were carried out by very young people, most of them without a criminal record. According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, 60% of the more than 3,915 detainees “have no criminal record, are not known to the police, have never been checked.” The average age of the detainees is “17 years old, along with children between 12 and 13 years old who acted as arsonists or attacked the police or mayors”.

Now the judiciary immediately began to try them, sometimes handing out very harsh sentences to serve as an example. In Bobigny, eight out of ten prisoners were convicted and imprisoned, even when the sentences were less than a month’s imprisonment. In Marseille, an 18-year-old girl was sentenced to 4 months in prison for stealing dresses and shoes, taking advantage of general robbery. Another young man of the same age was sentenced to 6 months in prison for throwing missiles at the police.

Neither the authorities, nor the agents, nor the parents were able to stop the acts of violence and robbery that the authors themselves did not hesitate to record and publish on social networks.

However, since Monday, the violence has decreased significantly. Emmanuel Macron visited a Paris police station that night and asked one of those present: “Who were the young people listening to?” “For drug dealers,” the officer said Le Parisien. French Mayor David Lisnard said the same after meeting with the head of state: “It’s a sad reality, traffickers are the ones who bring order.”

According to Lyon Capital, an expert on big banditry, Frédéric Ploquin, “traffickers are pragmatic, they don’t like to have their windows broken and that’s what happens to young people who operate at the foot of the buildings where they have their outlets”.