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The shooting of a 17-year-old African-American teenager by French police sparked ongoing riots, and over the weekend, several topics such as "France has fallen" and "France is burning" attracted global attention on social media.
In addition to excessive police enforcement, France's immigration policy has come into focus. Roger Stone, Trump's former political adviser, mentioned Napoleon in a July 1 post, "Napoleon will turn over in the grave." This is what happens when you allow immigrants to travel to your country without restrictions. William Wolfe, former deputy assistant secretary of defense under Trump, also released a video attacking France's immigration policy, saying, "Mass immigration + multiculturalism = national suicide." ”
The "British First Party" also posted a picture comparing the changes before and after France allowed large-scale immigration, and the once clear sky is now burning.
On July 1, local time, relatives and friends held funerals for the teenager who was shot, and riots across France abated over the weekend, but there were still sporadic clashes. The police arrested more than 700 people from the night of the 1st to the morning of the 2nd, and the number also decreased.
France has one of the highest rates of immigrants in Europe, with Muslim immigrants and their descendants accounting for about 10% of the population alone. Cultural diversity used to be the pride of cities like Paris, but in recent years, the influx of illegal immigrants and refugees has brought a series of problems such as border control and social security. After the immigration policy was questioned by some people, France announced a series of tightening measures in November 2019, setting quotas for legal immigration and stepping up the fight against illegal immigration.
The Financial Times commented that the riots once again exposed the political polarization and social tension in France. The feeling of "abandonment by the state" in France, which is often composed of ethnic minorities, has been subjected to racial discrimination, violent law enforcement and unfair treatment for many years, making poor communities like a powder keg, which is easily triggered by stimulus.
(Editor: Liu Qingyang)