analysis
After the fatal police shot at a 17-year-old in Nanterre, serious riots broke out in France. What are the causes of police violence – and what distinguishes the case from previous ones?
Nahel’s death is not a sad isolated case. For decades there have been deadly clashes between mostly young men with a migration background and police officers in France.
Maitre Henri LeClerc, President of the Human Rights League, is not at all surprised that there have been violent riots in Nanterre and other places in France, in which 170 police officers were injured and 180 people provisionally arrested in the night from Wednesday to Thursday alone: ”The young people People in these disadvantaged neighborhoods feel a brotherly bond with the dead person. There is great solidarity and a real esprit de corps.”
police union criticizes the head of state
An esprit de corps that also exists among police officers. Various police unions have sharply criticized Head of State Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne for their reaction. The President called the boy’s death “inexplicable and inexcusable”. Borne, in turn, said the actions of the police officer who shot was “obviously not in accordance with the rules”.
The outrage on the part of most police unions was great: According to the criticism, this was a prejudice against the colleague. Fabien Jobard, a sociologist at the CRNS Institute, considers this criticism hypocritical: “The police unions, and above all the ‘Alliance’, spread all sorts of details that speak against the victim in such incidents. And that in violation of all the protection rules for minors and the presumption of innocence .”
What is different about this case of police violence?
What is new is that this time there is a rift between the reaction of the state leadership and the police unions. Although the interior minister and president condemn the riots in the neighborhoods, the spontaneous, emotional and unequivocal reaction of Macron and Borne could make all the difference, explains Fabien Jobard.
The sociologist compares the current events with the events of 2005. At that time, two young men, Zeyd and Bouna, died in Clichy-Sous-Bois when they took refuge in a transformer house during a chase with the police. “The difference to 2005 is that the government around Nicolas Sarkozy made no attempt at that time to calm the situation down. On the contrary: they heated up the situation,” says Jobard.
At that time, the police officers even provoked and were partly responsible for the outbreak of violence because they shot tear gas at a Muslim place of prayer. A state of emergency had been declared, which the incumbent Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, now strictly rejects.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Camille Chaize assured radio station France Inter that he had instructed his police units to exercise restraint: “He’s calling on them to be professional. They should strictly adhere to these instructions and turn on their personal cameras.”
Demonstrators set fire to cars on the streets of Nanterre.
Legislators encourage police officers to use guns
But whether the situation can be kept in check is questionable. Because the reflexes on both sides are deep. For many young people, the police represent the hated state that offers them hardly any prospects. The police officers often act according to racist patterns, usually without legal consequences. In addition, legislation has recently tended to favor the use of firearms.
After the 2016 Nice attack in which an Islamist drove a truck into a crowd, killing more than 80 people, the law was changed to allow police officers to use the gun to stop a vehicle threatening to to cause a massacre. A few months later in 2017, this law was made even stricter. This was after two police officers were seriously injured in a traffic stop.
Giving in to protesting police officers and unions, the legislature allowed officers to use their firearms provided the subject does not comply and poses a risk to others in the flee. Since then, the use of firearms has increased by 50 percent, says sociologist Jobard, referring to an internal report by the National Police Inspectorate General.
Police training needs reform
But the laws are only one thing, explains Maître Henri LeClerc, President of the Human Rights League. The real problem is the training of police officers. “They don’t just have to learn how to use a gun. They have to learn their responsibilities. Are they being taught to defend human rights? Those are the important questions!” LeClerc said.
The spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Interior also admits that there is a problem with the training of officials. You have to develop the approach to such operations and often there is simply not enough time to practice the interaction of several officers during traffic checks. You have to know: The training to become a police officer in France lasts one year. In Germany there are three.
Also, since 2003 there have been no contact officers in the neighborhoods. It was then Interior Minister Sarkozy who declared that the police should not organize sporting events with young people, but arrest criminals. As a result, the people of the suburbs and the law enforcement officers have become strangers to one another. There is no more trust in justice.
Will the spiral of violence continue?
The director Mathieu Kassovitz, who had already made violence between the police and young suburban residents a topic with his film “Der Hate” in 2003, commented on social media on Wednesday. He said: The only way to break this spiral is to “finally punish the police officers who kill unlawfully”.