The wave of violence that has shaken France since last Wednesday has taken on unprecedented intensity. It recalls the crisis unleashed in 2005, when two young people from the outskirts of Paris electrocuted while running from police. This provoked the anger of these neighborhoods, also called the suburbalthough not with such virulence in such a short time.
There were three weeks of altercations, with images that had a great impact outside the country. in the riots three people died and there were more than 6,000 detainees, more than 230 public buildings attacked and 10,000 vehicles set on fire. The young men who died at the time were called Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré.
The trigger for the current crisis is the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old boy, shot by a police officer on Tuesday at a checkpoint in Nanterre, on the Parisian outskirts. This wave of violence that has been sweeping the country for several days has elements in common, but in a few days it has taken on greater virulence. In just four days there are already more than 2,000 detainees, more than 300 officers injured, more than 3,000 vehicles set on fire and another thousand public buildings attacked. Urban guerrilla techniques have also been used: looting of stores, shops, tobacconists, banks and transport.
This crisis “is 10 times worse than then, much more serious,” explains Rudy Manna, from the Aliance Police union and agent in Marseille, one of the cities where violence has escalated the most in recent days.
“As much as we search for answers, we do not find justifications for this escalation, except that youth is much more violent now. It has no other explanation. That and that French justice is very lax”, says this police officer, who adds that, at least in Marseille, “there are no means to control it, because these young assailants understand no other code than the law of the strongest“.