RIOTS IN FRANCE

A REPUBLICAN START AFTER THE ATTACK

FROM A MAYOR'S HOME ?

The mayors of France called on the population and elected officials to gather Monday at noon in front of all the town halls, invoking "a civic mobilization" after the violent attack on the home of the mayor of L'Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne) which aroused a wave of indignation across the country. All town halls in France will sound their sirens at 12 p.m. during these gatherings.

A solidarity march of elected officials and a dense crowd of residents set off to applause on Monday from the town hall of L'Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne), the day after the attack on the car-ram against the home of the mayor.

A thousand inhabitants of the town (about 30,000 inhabitants) took part in this circular march around the town hall led by the mayor Vincent Jeanbrun (LR).

Acclaimed by the crowd, the chosen one walking behind a banner "Together for the Republic!" was framed at the head of the procession of the tenors of his party, including the president of the Senate Gérard Larcher, the president of the Île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse and the boss of the Republicans Eric Ciotti.

Start of support rallies in front of town halls

The political class unanimously condemned yesterday the attack on the car-ram on the home of Vincent Jeanbrun, mayor of L'Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne), on the sidelines of another night of riots after the death of young Nahel.

. "We will not let anything pass, we will be alongside the mayors", thundered Elisabeth Borne, who went to the city to support the city councilor. LR leader Eric Ciotti described Jean-Luc Mélenchon as "factious" for not having called for calm and considered that the Insoumis was a "danger for the Republic".

By demanding justice before calm, the rebellious leader thinks he can tame anger. "That his partners have called for calm, Jean-Luc Mélenchon pays little attention to it. It is clear that the political and intellectual paralysis of the left, which denounces injustices, which sometimes supports riots, but which does not seem to have a political solution except for necessary police reform...

As for Macron, his trip to Marseille in difficult cities will not have changed anything or appeased anything in the long term. He said he wanted to "transform anger into a project" but the words fell a little flat in the face of the extent of drug trafficking, and in the face of the decline of public services on the ground, in the face of a mother mourning her son. The anger turned into riots.

A heavy economic toll

Emmanuel Macron ruled yesterday that the "peak" of the riots following the death of Nahel had "passed", while remaining "very careful" about the return to calm. The president took the opportunity to announce an "emergency law" to speed up reconstruction in the towns affected by the destruction.

Numbers. The Medef estimated yesterday at one billion euros the damage caused to businesses, 300 bank branches and 200 businesses having been looted. On the public services side: 209 national police premises have been burned or damaged and 150 town halls attacked since last Tuesday.

The economic toll is already heavy, let's beware of yet another "suburban plan"

When it finances targeted actions, public money can be useful in the neighbourhoods. But believing that we buy peace and prosperity with billions of euros is an illusion from which it is time to return.

A France in perpetual crisis

It is France which, as a whole, has been terribly bruised for several days by riots which are said to be more violent than those of 2005. They will harm the tourist season and worry about its ability to organize the Olympic Games in 2024.

France is going through a somewhat perpetual crisis. According to the Algerian essayist Boualem Sansal, "it has entered the zone of storms: crises follow one another and look alike, in almost all areas" . After the terrorist crisis, that of the yellow vests, and the slippages during the demonstrations against the pension reform, all that was missing was this awakening of the suburbs to show how powerless the state is.

And to continue: "France is a weak state and from rioters to Algeria to Islamists, many have understood this and act accordingly"

Who will take over the situation in the coming days. The forces of order, deployed in large numbers, or the drug traffickers, whose riots disrupt business ?