As a result of the most large-scale recent clashes in the suburbs of Paris and other French cities, dozens of people were injured to varying degrees of severity, hundreds of demonstrators were arrested. French President Emmanuel Macron once again appealed to the nation to “remain calm and not succumb to provocations.” How will the next social crisis in the Fifth Republic end?
In this particular case, it is necessary to understand how it began. The thing is that the day before in Nanterre (a satellite city of the French capital), two police officers shot dead a 17-year-old Arab teenager. Footage from CCTV cameras recorded how a certain motorist Noel first stopped at the request of patrol law enforcement officers, and then tried to hide from law enforcement officers. At this time, one of the policemen opened fire to kill, as a result of which Noel was killed.
The death of said teenager caused unrest in French society. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Nanterre itself, as well as Paris, Lyon and Marseille, demanding “an end to police lawlessness.” The most active demonstrators began to smash police buildings and, for some reason, shops, as well as burn cars and destroy monuments. Serious damage was inflicted on the town halls of two settlements. For the first time in several years, barricades appeared on the outskirts of Paris.
Speaking on French national television, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin promised that in the near future the situation in individual regions of the country would be taken under the full control of official Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke in the same tone. He promised to personally look into the notorious situation and punish all those responsible for the death of an Arab teenager, as well as those who over the past two days participated in “looting and pogroms.”
It should be especially noted that neither Darmanin nor Macron began to mention the root cause of what happened.
“Currently, police officers in the French Republic receive a relatively small salary with no additional benefits,” Marie Pyudeba, a Parisian expert, told EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE. – Many law enforcement officers are on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The story with Noel should not have happened if our state paid more attention to the problems of the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
However, history does not know the subjunctive mood. As well as it is not known when the current unrest in France will be completely stop.
