Is there discrimination or rift behind the serious riots in France?

With cars set on fire, buildings vandalized and protesters clashing with police, unrest in France is moving the way Arthur Chassaing feared.

On June 27, local time, in Nanterre, Hautes-Seine, France, a police officer opened fire when he stopped a car, and the 17-year-old boy who was driving died dead. This incident caused riots of varying degrees in many French cities for several days.

"The protests went on for many days, especially in the suburbs, where cars and garbage were burned." Chasan told the Beijing News that his city of Clermont-Ferrand is only a small city and has not encountered the worst protests, and the riots are obviously much more severe in other cities.

As a manager in the local luxury retail industry, Chasan was more worried about the impact of the unrest on economic activity in France. "Our shops in some big cities were destroyed due to the riots and suffered heavy losses."

The French government sent 45,000 additional police and gendarmes to the streets of the country's major rioting cities overnight, and the situation finally eased a week after the incident. But French President Emmanuel Macron remains wary of the current situation. "Is this a permanent return to calm? I'm cautious about that, but the 'peak' of the riots we saw the other day has indeed passed. ”

Days of unrest caused losses of more than 1 billion euros

With staff at Nanterre on strike and running out of staff, Yanis Linize had a backlog of cases ahead of him, and it was 5 p.m. local time on July 4 when it was his turn to be brought to court.

A few blocks from Nanterre Courthouse is a roundabout, where 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk was stopped for a traffic violation and then shot and killed by a police officer. The incident sparked protests across France, of which Linizer was a part.

As a bicycle courier from the southern suburbs of Paris, Linizer felt particularly upset for Nell, who was arrested by the police for shouting "Justice for Nell, we will kill you all," but he argued that he was shouting something else. The trial lasted less than 2 hours and he was sentenced to 8 months of probation, wearing an electronic bracelet for 4 months and spending 300 euros on a citizenship course before continuing to work.

There are many young people like Linizer who have been arrested. According to the French Ministry of Justice, about 4,000 people were arrested. As the unrest eases, the judicial system is functioning rapidly to handle the corresponding trials.

"Obviously, I want tough tactics." French Justice Minister Moretti told Radio France Internationale (RFI) that he recommended that prosecutors systematically sentence people accused of assault or aggravated damage to prison terms.

In addition, Macron also blamed social media in part for the worsening of the unrest. According to the New York Times, police found content that Linizer had uploaded to social media when they checked his phone. In one of the videos, Linizer holds a gas canister and claims to burn everything in the housing project. But he countered that everything was just gestures, that he did not burn, smash or steal anything, that "everything was empty words, that I was just talking about the thoughts that crossed my head."

In Macron's eyes, the content spread on social media fueled the violence, allowing those involved in the riots to quickly cooperate and imitate each other. Macron said that the French government is considering measures to strengthen the regulation of social networks, and in the future "the possibility of cutting off social networks in the event of a crisis is not ruled out."

On the one hand, punish the protesters who caused the riots; On the other hand, the French government is looking for ways to cushion the impact of the unrest.

In the night of unrest, more than 5,000 cars were burned and 1,000 shops were damaged or looted. According to the business association "French Enterprise Movement", the riots have caused more than 1 billion euros in damage.

Macron has promised "full support" to city officials affected by the unrest. He said the government would speed up the passage of a new law to repair damaged buildings, street facilities and public transport. Le Maire, France's Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, Digital Sovereignty, added that the shops attacked would also defer taxes and social security contributions, and the most affected stores would eliminate taxes altogether.

The economic impact of the riots does not stop there. There are voices worried that the surge in violence could have a long-term impact on French tourism as summer begins. The French newspaper Opinion quoted a tourism official as saying that as many as 25 percent of hotel reservations in Paris have been canceled.

"The riots pose a real threat to the image of France." Jean-François Rial, president of the Voyageurs du Monde group, said that even if the riots subsided, many tourists would be extremely sensitive to the risks.

Suburban minorities have difficulty integrating into mainstream society

The riots also brought the city of Nanterre, located in the industrial district of the western suburbs of Paris, into the spotlight. The BBC notes that whenever impoverished French suburbs attract media attention, it's usually because they're in trouble.

The worst suburban riot occurred in 2005, when two teenagers of North African descent died of electrocution while evading police at a substation near Paris. Protesters took to the streets, cars burned, shops looted, police raided, and several cities entered a "state of emergency."

Almost 20 years later, a similar scene is playing out again in France.

There are many public housing projects on the outskirts of major French cities, in which mainly young people live. According to 24-hour television, 40% of the residents there are under the age of 25 and usually have a migrant background.

In 1977, French Prime Minister Barr launched a plan to rebuild suburban housing, which over time gradually covered everything from housing to education, employment, health and culture, aiming to narrow the gap between the suburbs and the rest of the country. The BBC notes that over the past 20 years, more than €60 billion has been spent on renovating and building new homes, as well as improving suburban infrastructure. But for now, this policy has not had the desired effect.

"The French government has indeed made considerable efforts to improve housing and facilities in the suburbs, but it also has to confront the reality of the deterioration of social and cultural diversity in vulnerable suburbs." The magazine Dialogue notes that these inhabitants are usually immigrants or descendants of immigrants and are economically insecure. What's more, when given the opportunity and resources, those who are able to leave the suburbs will soon leave, replaced by poorer residents from farther afield. Therefore, while the built environment is improving, the social environment is deteriorating.

The Associated Press pointed out that although the French Constitution stipulates that all citizens of the French Republic have equal rights regardless of origin, race or religion, some people with immigrant backgrounds still encounter discrimination and injustice in their daily lives.

A 2013 survey showed that suburban residents had lower pass rates for high Chinese than other areas, were less likely to be accepted into universities, apprenticeships or training programs, and twice as likely to be unemployed.

Some voices have questioned that this improvement is just window dressing, not bringing real results. Zhang Jinling, a researcher at the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Beijing News that overall, non-European minorities have not really integrated into mainstream French society, and there is still a clear gap between the two. These minorities also often face greater economic hardship and often suffer from instability and even unemployment and poverty.

Over the years, the main grievance of suburban people is feeling "isolated." The Dialogue magazine pointed out that this disconnect is a two-way street, with suburban people lacking political resources and few "spokespersons" in policy. Despite well-intentioned social policies, the makers do not really come from this community. The unrest of the past few days has also shown that elected representatives have no influence in these communities that feel neglected and abandoned, and that their calm calls go unheeded. This rift is not only felt in society, but also in politics.

And every conflict between the suburban people and the police makes this rift clearly visible in front of French society.

French police accused of "excessive use of force"

In a relatively weak suburban environment, the public always has a "sense of distrust" of the French police. Chasan points out that they don't like the police very much and sometimes challenge them in less than just a way: "There have been cases of young people attacking firefighters before, even if the firefighters themselves are there to help them." ”

This "sense of mistrust" is not without reason. Take the shooting in Nell, for example, where a law allowing police to shoot during stopover inspections was passed in 2017. In 2016, in a residential area outside Paris, a group of young people threw petrol bombs at a police officer's patrol car, causing the police to be severely burned and put into a coma, and the police union protested to demand a strong response from the government, according to the BBC.

In 2017, the use of firearms by police was expanded, and the law allows police to shoot when the driver or occupants of the vehicle ignore a stop order and are deemed to pose a threat to the life or physical safety of police officers and others. The Nel incident is the third fatal shooting in France this year during a police stop. In 2022, police shootings in France killed a total of 13 people, a record high.

In this context, the shadow of "racism" has been found in the police system. The Guardian noted that statistics found that most of the victims since the law was changed in 2017 were of African descent or Arab descent, which rights groups believe indicates systemic racism in French law enforcement agencies.

According to French 24-hour television, the investigation found that young people from economically disadvantaged areas are "frequent targets" of police discrimination and are stopped and searched even if there are no signs or evidence of wrongdoing.

It also drew the attention of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), who described the shooting as a moment for France to seriously address deep-seated issues such as racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement, and that the French government should ensure that the use of police force always respects the principles of legality and non-discrimination.

However, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded swiftly, denying any racist behaviour within the French police. "Any allegation of racism or systemic discrimination by French law enforcement agencies is totally unfounded."

In addition, in recent years, there have been many incidents of "police beatings" in France, and even deaths in custody, which has sparked public protests against the excessive use of force by the police. According to the Financial Times, France has passed a new security law almost every year since 2001 to arm the police, but this does not appear to have further improved the efficiency of policing.

After the 2005 riots, new crowd control techniques and relatively non-lethal intermediate weapons were widely used. In the "yellow vest" campaign, which began in 2018, the use of these technologies and weapons led to hundreds of cases of excessive use of force by police, injuring about 2,500 protesters, but ultimately only a handful of police officers were criminally charged and sanctioned.

"It's not surprising." The Financial Times notes that the fear of public disorder and the reality of being threatened by terrorism have forced successive French governments to expand their police arsenals, increase their numbers and weaken their accountability.

"The French police are more armed than most of their European counterparts, and the weapons they deploy are often banned or rarely used elsewhere." Criminologist Sebastian Roché added that French police are inherently isolated from society and react only to the executive branch.

Experts on policing in Europe say French police and gendarmes generally do not see themselves as "servants of the people" but as protectors of the state and government. France also has a long tradition of street protests, and the combination of the two further intensifies the atmosphere of confrontation.

After the riots, there were voices calling for reform of the police system. The Financial Times pointed out that violence, chaos and looting cannot be ignored without hearing social anxieties, that the police system needs to be reformed, intervene in the possible problem of racial discrimination, establish a truly independent monitoring body, and the principles behind the maintenance of public order must be changed to help alleviate the situation.

But the pace of reform is not easy. Mu Gengyuan, assistant researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Beijing News that for a long time, immigration and security issues have been the focus of domestic political disputes in France, and France's continuous expansion of police power is also related to the domestic political ecology.

The riots once again exacerbated divisions in French society

The timing of the riots seemed a bit awkward for Macron. The wave of protests to raise the retirement age had just faded in April, and the unrest that began in late June had destabilized the situation in France, keeping him out of a plane to visit Germany.

It is expected that in the future, Macron will focus more on domestic affairs. Mu Gengyuan pointed out that since Macron's first term, he has always attached importance to foreign policy and has also performed prominently in the diplomatic arena. Now that Macron is free of electoral pressure, his future administration will prioritize domestic affairs, with a greater emphasis on a smooth second term, from the retirement reform protests to the current unrest.

As Macron tried to stabilize the situation, the left and right wings quarreled again. Macron had hoped to hold a forward-looking dialogue on resolving France's social woes in talks with more than 300 municipal officials. However, left-right officials blamed each other, and both sides insisted on their own solutions. At the end of the meeting, Macron said they had failed to reach an agreement.

At every time there is a riot, politicians repeat similar statements. The right wing condemned the violence, claiming that the police were victims; The left criticizes social injustice and promises social policies in vulnerable communities. They will always quickly play the role of the same old tune.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the parliamentary party of France's far-right National Alliance, wants to push for draconian measures, including lowering the age at which criminals can be tried as adults to 16 and denying access to public housing and benefits for those who commit crimes or minor offenses. Left-wing lawmakers stressed not to look at things from the perspective of conspiracy theories, ignoring the social reasons behind the riots. Macron has been more cautious, stressing the need to work together on solutions.

But this time things got a little different. The Washington Post pointed out that the riot violence seems to have opened a "door of opportunity" for the French far right. A poll shows that the French public is most supportive of Le Pen's tough response to the unrest.

"In fact, it is not only the extreme right, but the traditional right-wing Republican Party's statement on the riots is basically moving closer to the far right." Mu Gengyuan pointed out that from last year's election, it can be seen that there are three major political forces in France: the extreme right, the ruling force led by Macron, and the extreme left. Now that more and more people are on Le Pen's side, the riots have once again exacerbated the divisions in French society.

Faced with the rift that has gripped French society for years, Julien Talpin, a political science researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research, stressed that it is not enough to use funds to improve hardware facilities such as housing, but also to invest in social interaction.

Mu Gengyuan added that after the housing project, education and life in the suburbs are often separated from mainstream society, which instead creates a kind of "isolation". Software facilities should also be equipped to keep up, so that immigrants can slowly contact and integrate with mainstream French society.

But three feet of ice is not a day's cold. Zhang Jinling said that the dilemma faced by France on the issue of ethnic minorities today is actually caused by multiple factors accumulated in history, while some xenophobic forces in society have long rejected and discriminated against ethnic minorities, some ethnic minorities affected by religious extremism have brought serious harm to French society, and the two have formed a vicious circle, and it is now difficult to distinguish cause and effect. In his view, in order to completely solve the problem of the gap between French ethnic groups, French society needs to face up to the existence of these minorities and truly recognize them.

Beijing News reporter Luan Ruoxi