“The time of violence must end to make way for that of mourning, dialogue and reconstruction”, urged the players of the French football team in reference to the riots which are shaking France, in a text relayed on Friday by Kylian Mbappe. The captain of the Blues had stepped up, with Jules Koundé, to denounce the fatal police shooting at young Nahel, in Nanterre.
The Blues, saying they are “marked and shocked by the brutal death of young Nahel”, launch a “call for appeasement, awareness and accountability”, ensuring that violence must give way to “other peaceful and constructive ways of expressing oneself.
Clashes with the police and damage have shaken many neighborhoods and city centers since the death on Tuesday of young Nahel, killed by a police officer during a traffic check.
Deschamp welcomes the initiative
“Since this tragic event, we have witnessed the expression of popular anger, the substance of which we understand, but the form of which we cannot endorse”, write the players of the France team in the text, shared on their accounts. personal.
They say they share “these feelings of pain and sadness”, “but to this suffering is added that of assisting powerless in a real process of self-destruction”. “It is your property that you are destroying, your neighborhoods, your cities, your places of fulfillment and proximity”, they detail.
“In this context of extreme tension, we cannot remain silent and our civic conscience encourages us to call for appeasement, awareness and accountability”. According to them, “there are other peaceful and constructive ways to express oneself. It is in this that our energies and our reflections must be concentrated”.
In a separate message, sent to the followers of the France team, coach Didier Deschamps “welcomed (é” the initiative of the players. “My staff and I are associated with it”, he said.
“We also have a thought for Nahel’s family. However, without wanting to give lessons to anyone, I have the deep conviction that violence has never solved anything. I hope with all my heart that the situation will calm down, ”said the boss of the vice-world champions.