For the fifth day in a row, French authorities were forced to deploy over 45,000 police officers as violent riots persisted throughout the country. This comes after the death of a teenage boy of African descent shot by police in Paris for driving away from a traffic stop.
This is the moment 17 year old Nahel M was shot dead at point blank range by a French policeman in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The killing has led to three consecutive nights of rioting across France. pic.twitter.com/J5osn9CnNi
— 5Pillars (@5Pillarsuk) June 30, 2023
Videos of the incident showed an officer leaning over the hood of the car only to be flung off when the driver started to move. This one-minute altercation has sparked days of nationwide riots that has led to the destruction of hundreds of vehicles and buildings, looting of countless stores, and injuries of dozens of police officers and firefighters.
More than 3,000 people have been arrested in the process, with the country’s top two police unions calling it a “war.” The Alliance Police Nationale and UNSA Police said in a statement, “Faced with these savage hordes, it’s no longer enough to call for calm, it must be imposed. Now is not the time for industrial action but for fighting against these ‘vermin.”
The violence has gotten so out of hand that French President Emmanuel Macron had to cancel his planned state visit to Germany to deal with the crisis. In a statement from France, the president expressed his desire to remain in the country for the near future.
“Given the internal situation, the president has indicated that he wishes to be able to stay in France for the next few days,” the statement said. “The two presidents therefore agreed to postpone the visit to Germany to a later date.”
The French government has yet to propose a concrete solution for calming the riots, but the possibility of increased police presence has been raised.
In the meantime, people all across the country continue to suffer the consequences of flagrant violence. Businesses have been severely impacted, public safety has been compromised, and there is a severe lack of communication from the government as to how they plan to fix the problem.
In light of the terrible unrest, the French people are now forced to prepare for a sixth night of violent riots. Only time will tell how this crisis will be resolved.
worst riots in france in 20 years.
and that’s really saying something. pic.twitter.com/h32f6xNr1g— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 1, 2023