It’s over? “Absolutely not, far from us to think so. It’s a long job, we’ve had nights of terrible violence, now others are calmer. But let’s proceed with great caution”. This is how the Elysium responds to those who ask if Emmanuel Macron is convinced that the worst is now over. Of course, the number of detainees went from 1,300 to 150, and Sunday night was the first without clashes. But the wound is deep and can reopen at any moment.
For this reason, for the fourth night in a row, the government has deployed the maximum number of men and vehicles on the ground: 45,000 policemen and gendarmes. Timidly, “gradually” – a word on which there is much emphasis in the corridors of the Elysée – an attempt is made to return to normality in a country that has lived through 5 nightmare days. First the tragedy of Nahel, shot in the chest at the age of 17 by a policeman who had stopped him while driving. Then the reaction that shook France worse than an earthquake, from the banlieues – which literally caught fire with thousands and thousands of fires, devastation, looting – up to the center of the cities, including Paris.
The controversies
A blaze that the authorities hope was as violent as it was brief. To try to turn the page, Macron and his prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, today received respectively the high offices of state – the president of the Senate Gérard Larcher and that of the Assemblée Nationale, Yael Braun-Pivet – and the group leaders in Parliament.
Keystone
“Justice for Nahel”
We return to talk, to heal the wounds, to plan an exit from the crisis, even if Borne is the one who had the most difficult task: Marine Le Pen, for example, refused to go to the meeting, it seems because she wanted to be “received by Macron”. And Mathilde Panot, of the radical left of La France Insoumise, left the meeting before the end, annoyed at not having received answers to her questions.
Meetings with mayors
It can be predicted that the meeting that Macron will have tomorrow at the Elysée with over 200 mayors of cities and small towns that have suffered the most from the violence in recent days will be even less easy. One, that of Bry-sur-Marne, near Paris, Charles Aslangui, has already made it known that he will not go to the Elysée because “it is not the time to organize receptions but to restore order”. Macron wanted to organize the meeting because – sources from the Elysee underline – “he knows very well that the mayors are the ones who know the citizens best”. It is with them that the damage must be repaired, with them that what the French presidency hopes will be “a long-term reflection to understand what has happened in recent days” in the country.
But it is not easy, as demonstrated by the anger that was felt in Hay-les-Roses, where the mayor Vincent Jeanbrun, who saw violence attacking his sleeping family in the middle of the night, had very harsh words: “It is the democracy that has been attacked – he said to the hundreds of people who came to support him – now is the time to say enough”.
Keystone
Iron and fire
And later he added, thinking back to that car set on fire and thrown against his own house where the two children were sleeping: “Let’s discover the true face of the protesters, they wanted to murder my wife”. Macron telephoned him to assure him of “trust and support”: “We will build solutions together”, the president guaranteed him.
Thus we face the seventh night in France with less anguish than a few days ago but with strong concerns for the future, for the criticisms arriving from outside, for the fears aroused in tourists when the sector hoped for a recovery, for the huge damages that now it will be necessary to repair (at least 20 million euros only for the destroyed public transport). Someone is also thinking of the Paris 2024 Olympics: in a year it will have to be another France to welcome the Games. “It’s a year away, we mustn’t get confused with deadlines,” said the deputy mayor of the capital Emmanuel Grégoire.
In Lyons and Angers with baseball bats
Baseball bats, Roman salutes and shouts ‘France to the French’: in the République of poisons after the death of Nahel, the boy killed by a policeman last week in Nanterre, squad patrols are unleashed against the demonstrators. In some cities of the country, from Lyon to Angers, gangs of young neo-fascists have been reported who have taken to the streets in recent days, threatening the demonstrators – many of Arab origins – who have protested in recent days, triggering clashes and devastation.
Keystone
Ready for the fights
A group was spotted last night in Lyon but was immediately rejected by the police who dispersed the start of the march using tear gas. According to the prefecture, the young people “attempted a communication operation in front of the town hall”. The local newspaper, Le Progrès, reported that “the right-wing group Les Remparts, which arrived from the old city, was dispersed with tear gas”.
The slogan ‘France for the French’
Several videos on social media show young people shouting slogans such as ‘We are at home’ and ‘France for the French’. In recent days, according to a deputy from La France Insoumise, Thomas Porte, similar demonstrations have been recorded in Chambéry and Angers. In Angers, in particular, the public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into a group that was caught on video during a heated discussion with protesters over Nahel’s death.
According to Bfm-Tv, the investigation for “carrying a firearm” concerns, in particular, young far-rights filmed on Friday afternoon in the city center equipped with baseball bats. The sparks struck in the afternoon, when the march against police violence passed along rue Cornet, in front of a meeting place of the far-right Alvarium association. The association was actually dissolved by the authorities, but its members continue to meet in the club and staged violent clashes with hooded protesters for 3-4 minutes on Friday. Video testimonials circulating on social networks show a man beaten and left on the ground.
2023-07-03 19:52:05
#Rounds #fascists #demonstrators
