France, the nation that promised ‘Liberty, equality, fraternity’ to the world, is burning, racked by civil riots for close to a week after policemen shot dead at point blank range a teenager of Algeria and Morocco descent in a clear example of systemic racism. Young Nahel’s death was the flashpoint, but the root cause may be the alienation of a large section of people who constitute close to 10 per cent of the population.
A 2017 law, introduced after a wave of terrorist attacks, had empowered the police to use firearms if a driver did not obey instructions after being asked to stop for a spot check. Statistics, however, prove that the French police used such powers consistently to discriminate. There were 13 deaths of people of colour, mostly immigrants, in similar incidents in 2022 — but none of ‘white’ people — and they tell the emblematic story of deep-rooted racism in French society, certainly among the gendarmes.
The French state, under President Emmanuel Macron, has been through several crises in the last few years like the Yellow Vest movement of 2018 and the disaffection sowed more recently in the wake of a pension system overhaul that also saw the retirement age raised.
With the sweeping powers given to them, the police have been taking on the rioters, some of whom ransacked luxury stores selling the fanciest haute couture labels of France in Paris, besides attacking oil refineries and burning 2,000 cars and buses across France after the shooting of Nahel Merzouk last week. Elected officials, mayors in particular, were targeted too.
The discontent is clear and Mr Macron, with powers extensively in his hands as President, is being blamed for it. His attending an Elton John concert when Paris and France were burning did not escape attention either. An unwillingness to address the issue, apart from denouncing the shooting of the teenager by a police officer, is being seen as the reason why the hostility may not not end soon, even if the riots do die down in the wake of Nahel’s emotive funeral on Saturday.
Dealing with waves of fury has been Mr Macron’s and his Prime Minister’s task, but the question being asked is whether he has lost the trust of the French people. Only a meaningful study of systemic racism, deep-seated violence of the police force and why so many people are feeling estranged might provide answers to the woes of the Fifth Republic.
