The situation in the country continues to worsen
Photo: REUTERS
Latest news on the riots in France on July 1, 2023
Having held the third meeting of the interdepartmental crisis group in recent days on Saturday morning, July 1, 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron decided not to declare a state of emergency yet, despite the ongoing riots in the country. And although the head of the French government, Elisabeth Born, said that the cabinet was ready to “consider all options” to restore order, Macron only condemned the “unacceptable instrumentalization of the death” of a 17-year-old teenager in a simplified way. and called on all parents to “be responsible.”
Number of people arrested during the protests
However, the situation in the country continues to worsen. According to BFMTV, 1,311 people were detained on the night from Friday to Saturday, 406 of them in the capital. Since the start of the riots, some 2.4 thousand people have been detained. Regarding material damage, the Ministry of the Interior recorded 2,560 fires in public places, 1,350 cars on fire and 234 buildings. The world turned to the images filmed over Marseille, which is shrouded in black smoke from the fires.
What is happening in the cities of France
In Paris, protesters set fire to the Olympic Games Aquatic Training Center under construction. The flames also engulfed a nearby bus station, burning 12 vehicles. In the north of the French capital, rioters robbed a Carrefour supermarket.
The Lyon authorities have prohibited night demonstrations after 6:00 p.m. Protesters responded by looting high-end stores on the city’s largest shopping street, Republic Street. During the clashes, 7 policemen received gunshot wounds.
On the night from Friday to Saturday, 1,311 people were arrested, of whom 406 were in the capital.
Photo: REUTERS
A similar situation has developed in Marseille, whose mayor, Benoit Payan, has called on the state to send him additional police forces immediately. There, the radicals stole an arsenal of weapons and took 7 machine guns.
In Strasbourg, protesters robbed an Apple store. The images circulating on social networks show how unidentified people broke the windows of the store and got inside, and a few minutes later they began to throw the equipment into the street. People passing by ran to take part in the robbery.
Hackers from the international Anonymous network attacked hospital infrastructures throughout France. Hospital sites in different cities, including the Salpêtrière in Paris, as well as medical facilities in Lyon and Marseille, stopped working. On the group’s own site, one could see the headline “For the murder of an Algerian child” and a list of the pages attacked.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin personally appealed to the municipal authorities, demanding a ban on the sale and transportation of firecrackers, gasoline canisters, and flammable substances. He added that in the near future customs control will be strengthened on the importation of this type of product, as well as fireworks from border countries.
More than 45,000 gendarmes from special units have already been mobilized to combat the riots. Public transportation will now stop every day after 9:00 p.m. across the country. The French government has also decided to cancel all major events.
Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne, for her part, announced the deployment of armored vehicles from the National Gendarmerie in the capital region, including several Centaur-type armored vehicles, capable of advancing under fire. Bourne also called on all members of the government to return to Paris and remain there until the end of the riots.
The Ministry of the Interior recorded 2,560 fires in public places, 1,350 cars and 234 buildings on fire
Photo: REUTERS
Several journalists were attacked by protesters while covering the riots. So, an employee of the Tours-Vai de Loire TV channel, who showed the situation in Tours, was attacked by about 15 people, whose faces were hidden by hoods. First they beat the girl and then they broke her camera.
– Leaving the bar with the comrades, we were taken by surprise by a group of hooded people who were burning everything in the street. Result: hospitalization with a minor head injury in the emergency room after receiving a blow to the face and head,” said Media journalist Cemil Sanli. “The nurse told me that there were many attacks and that it was dangerous to go outside.
– Photographer Han Reno was attacked by about 10 rioters while covering what was happening in Nanterre. They left it on the sidewalk after it was stolen,” added Le Point editor-in-chief Geraldine Wesner. He has a knee injury and numerous bruises.
The UN called on France to seriously address the problems of racism and racial discrimination in the police
Photo: REUTERS
The American businessman Elon Musk was amazed by the large number of weapons that the protesters had.
Where do they get all the weapons? Personal gun ownership in Europe is extremely limited, but it is still present. Therefore, most of it appears to have been stolen or smuggled into French territory,” Musk said.
In the context of the unprecedented scale of the riots, the UN has called on France to seriously address the problems of racism and racial discrimination in the police. The country’s foreign ministry responded curtly that such accusations against French law enforcement were “absolutely groundless.”
reaction to the riot
Sergey Fedorov, a leading researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, on the radio “KP” defined what is happening in the Fifth Republic as follows:
– This is an undoubted failure of the policy of multiculturalism in France, where both the right and the left do not want to hear about it, believing that the French, regardless of skin color, origin, etc., must share French republican values. . But this is in theory, but in practice, young people with a migrant background do not want to share these values. They live in their communities, they have their own laws. It is a difficult time right now, with Parliament debating the immigration bill that is about to pass, and the debate will be hot and difficult, especially given this crisis.
François Asselino, leader and founder of the People’s Republican Union political party, said the riots in France were possible because the government could no longer punish criminals.
“What is happening is the result of the general lethargy of French politicians, by which our society has been rotting for decades. We no longer punish suburban criminals and their various forms of illegal trade, starting with drugs,” Asselino stressed.
The leader of the National Front, Marine Le Pen, called on the French president to receive “without further delay” the heads of the parties and movements represented in parliament to discuss what is happening and overcome it.
“There is no immediate solution other than a return to order through a curfew and, if the situation persists or worsens, declaring a state of emergency,” added Le Pen.
The president of the Patriots party, Florian Filippo, condemned Macron’s words about the impact of video games on the protests in the country.
He immediately blamed video games for poisoning the minds of rioters. With this level of analysis, the riots in France will not end so easily, Filippo scoffed.
According to The New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, Macron needs to resolve the situation in the country as soon as possible to avoid more dangerous consequences.
“The French leader, who is leaving tomorrow for a two-day state visit to Germany, needs to restore order quickly enough to avoid declaring a state of emergency, which would be seen as an admission that his government has lost control of the situation,” Cohen said.
The funeral of the murdered 17-year-old boy, who refused to obey the demands of the police, took place today in the funeral room of the Mont-Valérien cemetery in Nanterre. The ceremony, which was attended by dozens of people, continued at the local mosque. The entrance to the funeral was controlled by a makeshift security service of the townspeople who did not allow outsiders to enter. Journalists were also asked to leave the territory of the cemetery.
