France's racially mixed communities have recently become a tinder keg. Not long ago, on July 1, in front of a large mosque in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, people lined up to hold the funeral of 17-year-old Nahle. In the midst of a procession of hundreds, Nahle's mother walked through the crowd wearing a white T-shirt. On this solemn occasion, the presence of any uniformed French police could provoke a dangerous provocation, so the police chose not to intervene.
However, the calm of the funeral could not hide the events that took place a few days earlier. Just five days ago, Nahel was shot dead by police in a street encounter, sparking France's worst protests in years. The incident triggered smashing, looting and burning in cities from south to north, from Paris to Marseille. The Confederation of French Enterprise estimates that more than 200 businesses were looted, 300 bank branches burned and 250 tobacco stores were destroyed throughout France, with a total loss of more than 1 billion euros.
The video of Nahel's death went viral on social media, stirring outrage among the population. According to eyewitness testimony, Nahel was driving a borrowed yellow Mercedes at the time of the crime and was stopped by the police. The attitude of the police was arrogant, Nahle's foot left the brake pedal, the vehicle began to move, then gunshots rang out, Nahel was hit, and the car lost control and hit a telephone pole.
The incident sparked dissatisfaction with police brutality. During the riots, masked demonstrators broke windows, ransacked shops, set cars on fire and clashed with police. They painted slogans on the exterior walls of the building: "Police kill" and "Justice for the Nahle."
Nahle's mother, who gave a speech at the march, asked police: "Why shoot? "Nahel is a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent who lives in a poor community. Although he had come to police attention for refusing to obey police and driving without a license, his lawyer said he was clean in terms of criminal record.
However, the Nahel identity tag became a bigger problem. He is a North African immigrant living in a deprived area and underage. These labels direct police violence to deeper issues of race and immigration. France's immigrant population has been increasing in recent years, especially from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Many of them live in poor areas and face unemployment and social marginalization.
The problem of race has always existed in French society. When police used lethal force in traffic stops, the victims were mostly black or Arab. Young people who are considered African or Arab are 20 times more likely to be identified by police than other Frenchmen.
The whole incident is reminiscent of the riots that took place in the suburbs of Paris in 2005. Both have similar causes and are related to the actions of the police, but the deeper problem is injustice, discrimination and class divisions within French society. The French government has been trying to reduce the imbalance in suburban development through measures, but for a long time, tensions within society have not been effectively resolved.
French President Emmanuel Macron, in the face of the unrest, took a tough stance and condemned the police's actions, but this stance has also attracted criticism. The Government has taken a series of measures to restore social order, but a longer-term, more comprehensive effort is needed to address this deep-rooted problem.
Overall, France's racially mixed communities remain a potential powder keg, revealing the intertwining of multiple issues such as immigration, race, and economic inequality, which require governments and societies to work together to find solutions.