In Rouen, the police station was the target of firework mortars. On Ile-Saint-Denis, Garges-lès-Gonesse or Mons-en-Baroeul, it was the town halls that were ravaged by fires. Just like the media library in Amiens or the tramway in Clamart. The list is far from being exhaustive. From Toulouse to Lille, from Brest to Saint-Etienne via Alençon, the situation is the same: two days after the death of Nahel, killed by a policeman in Nanterre, urban violence has spread throughout France. According to the Interior Ministry, 150 people were arrested overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. And if the government says that the triggering of the state of emergency “is not an option considered today”, 40,000 police and gendarmes – including 5,000 in Paris and the inner suburbs – will be mobilized this Thursday evening.
This is four times more than the previous night, and above all a sign that in high places, the situation is being taken very seriously. Because everyone has in mind the riots of autumn 2005 that followed the death of Zyed and Bouna, two teenagers who were trying to flee a police check. Twenty days of conflagration in the four corners of France which had made the headlines in the four corners of the world. “We are on a riot dynamic which, indeed, can recall that of 2005: the death of a young person, the outbreak in the suburbs then the dissemination throughout France, estimates Thomas Sauvadet, researcher at the University of Paris-Est Créteil and specialist urban violence. That urban violence occurs after a news item, it happens regularly. That they spread to other cities is much rarer. »
“Emotional Shock”
The death of Adama Traoré, in 2016, gave rise to several days of particularly violent riots – a trial was even held at the assizes for these events – around Beaumont-sur-Oise, in Val d’Oise. During Théo’s arrest, in Aulnay-sous-Bois in 2017, clashes were recorded throughout Ile-de-France: in ten days, 245 people were arrested and around twenty vehicles burned. Each time, the same scenario: urban violence is contained and extinguished in a few days. This was the case in Nantes, in 2018, after the death of Aboubakar Fofana, killed by a police officer during a check. Or in Grenoble, in 2019, after the death of two teenagers in a scooter accident while they were being chased by the police.
“In the Nahel case, there is a mixture of elements which makes the situation explosive: a young person who dies in a neighborhood on a police action, analyzes Christophe Korell, police officer for more than twenty years and now at the head of an association that works to bring the police and citizens closer together (Acpj). There, in addition, there is this video, which gives the feeling of proximity to the action. The gesture remains incomprehensible to many. We see the official in question pointing his weapon at the driver then arrested, then shooting when he starts again.
The power of these images is reminiscent of those of the George Floyd case in the United States. “The video that has gone viral on social networks, shared, commented on, participates in this rioting dynamic”, insists Thomas Sauvadet. The age of the victim – 17 years old – is also not insignificant. “There is, in this case, a whole vocabulary associated with childhood,” notes the researcher. We talk about a “kid”, M’Bappé tweets about “a little angel”, it creates an emotional shock that can allow the spread. »
“Nothing is done in terms of prevention”
The situation is all the more explosive in that nothing has really changed since the “suburban crisis” of 2005. “Money has been put into buildings, but nothing has been done in terms of prevention, education… We see that there is a mistrust of institutions, especially the police, but no one cares. We are content to repeat that the rate of confidence in the police is 70% without looking any further…”, deplores Christophe Korell. In twenty years, the situation, in the eyes of Thomas Sauvadet, would have even deteriorated somewhat, “particularly for part of the male youth”: of course, the educational, professional and economic difficulties in the neighborhoods already existed, but “there is a habit of violence that there was not”. It is the same that is expressed during the settling of scores. “Some of the teenagers in priority neighborhoods are ready to take action, there is a form of radicalization,” insists the researcher, who notes an increased presence of weapons.
Could these elements create an even more explosive situation than in 2005? Impossible to say at this stage of events. The indictment of this police officer on Thursday, and especially his placement in pre-trial detention, could contribute to a form of appeasement. “More specifically, if the police officer had been placed under judicial supervision, this would necessarily have led to a conflagration. We will see if his detention is likely to calm the riots, ”comments Christophe Korell.
What position will the victim’s family also adopt? Will it broadcast a message calling for calm, which would certainly have a weight? Be that as it may, the government is on all fronts to underline its involvement: the diaries of all the ministers have been suspended, the words to qualify the gesture of this police officer without appeal. Objective: not to let the situation degenerate.