The death of Thomas poses “the risk of a shift” in society, said Olivier Véran on Monday who was traveling in the bereaved village of Crépol (Drôme), where young Thomas was killed.
What cost the life of this 16-year-old young man was not “a simple brawl on the sidelines of a village ball”, underlined the government spokesperson, estimating that this “drama raises the risk of “a shift” in society, “if we are not up to it”.
To do this, “it is up to the courts to do justice. Not to the French themselves,” he continued, recalling that nine suspects have already been indicted, notably for “organized gang murder” a leader punishable by life imprisonment.
“Justice allows us not to give in to the temptation of revenge through the violence of which the ultra-right factions driven by hatred and resentment were guilty in Romans,” he added.
“Violence must not respond to violence”
“Violence must not respond to violence,” he said, castigating “those who cry for vengeance instead of demanding justice.” Dozens of activists from the identity movement, from all over France, met on Saturday and Sunday in Romans-sur-Isère, a town neighboring Crépol where Thomas studied and where some of the suspects prosecuted for their participation in the violence which led to upon the death of the young high school student.
Coming “to fight” according to the authorities, the hooded activists were pushed back on Saturday evening by the police who made around twenty arrests. An activist was molested and stripped naked by strangers during the parade organized near the Monnaie district, from which some of the suspects allegedly came.
“You can’t take any more of these violent gangs”
On Sunday, a new ultra-right rally resulted in seven arrests, including four young people from the sensitive Monnaie district.
Olivier Véran assured Monday that the government was “lucid” in the face of “the violence which sometimes breaks out alone but which combines in packs, which, each time and wherever it strikes, further exacerbates the tensions in our society”.
“You can’t stand these violent gangs anymore, neither can we,” he said, promising “the full mobilization of the government to guarantee the security of all citizens.”