President Macron’s quickfire denouncement of the police officer who shot an Arab teen earlier this week has provoked a rhetorical backlash from the nation’s powerful policing unions who say that Macron is throwing their officers under the bus for the sake of political convenience.
France has been gripped by racial turmoil after the shooting of a 17-year-old Arab teen by police during a traffic stop Tuesday triggered a cascade of communal riots in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre as authorities arrested a further 150 people in another night of unrest.
Disturbances spread nationwide to Amiens, Lille, Dijon, and the suburbs of Lyon last night as fighting broke out between police and largely Arab gangs in what the French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin referred to as a direct attack on the institutions of the French Republic. Rioters torched cars and established barricades in ethnic neighbourhoods in Paris as police convoys came under attack from organised gangs using Molotov cocktails and fireworks in what some reckon are the worst race riots France has seen since 2005.
Two town halls in Garges-lés-Gonesse outside Paris and the northern French town of Mons-en-Barœul were firebombed according to media reports as Macron and other security officials met in Paris Thursday morning for an emergency meeting to potentially declare a state of emergency.
The officer who killed the teen has already been detained on murder charges as both Macron and other leading French dignitaries voiced their dissatisfaction about how the officer conducted himself during the altercation. Left-wing politicians have called on a purge of the police to combat institutional racism.
The ease with which Macron disavowed the officer in question has spurred a strong response by the country’s policing unions who accuse the French establishment of disregarding the concept of innocence until proven guilty due to political pressures.
The Alliance Police Nationale, which represents 44% of France’s entire police force, released a statement Wednesday afternoon denouncing Macron for already condemning the accused officer before all the evidence has been made public and a trial held. While on a visit to the southern city of Marseilles, Macron referred to the shooting incident as “inexcusable” in comments many police unions say automatically prejudiced any trial and gives moral legitimacy to rioters.
Their criticism has been echoed by nationalist opposition leader Marine Le Pen who has taken a notably pro-police position during recent protests over French pension reforms in the hopes of currying favour with the French security state.
The past year has seen the rupturing of relations between the French state and policing unions as pundits on the Left decry a shift to the Right among French police. Over 2,000 riot police were deployed to the streets of Paris Wednesday night to combat the rising tide of violence as figures on the Left and popular culture influencers heaped condemnation on the police force for their supposed institutional racism and heavy-handed street tactics.
In response to this past year’s crumbling of civic institutions and worsening violence, the French electorate has lurched to the Right as opinion polls from last month showed the vast majority of the public wanting a clampdown on immigration and asylum numbers.
