Looting in Marseille, in Saint-Denis, clashes with the police everywhere in France as well, but also in Lyon and Nanterre, the city where the young Nahel lived, killed by a police officer on Tuesday June 27 in Morning. Riots reminiscent of those of 2005, they started from Clichy-sous-Bois north of Paris. This was after two teenagers Zied and Bouna died in an electrical transformer while being chased by law enforcement. Report in Clichy where the death of the young man resonates particularly.
With our special correspondent in Clichy-sous-Bois, Alexis Bedu
They are playing football at the end of the day, at the foot of building 9, before a restless night. In the city of Chêne-Pointu, no one is recovering from the death of Nahel. Willem is 16 years old: Frankly, it’s shocking. A lot of anger even. What is rapper Ninho’s phrase again? “They don’t want it to burn like 2005. Yet they make the same mistakes.” This sentence is really real. A 17-year-old who gets smoked for refusing to comply. We no longer understand anything in this world, frankly… What is going on, what exactly do they want? »
” I am for justice for Nahel »
These young Clichois are against the riots. It won’t solve anything, explains Mamoudou: ” Frankly, I am for justice for Nahel. After that, I don’t intervene in riots. I don’t want to have problems with the police. If there is a trial, the policeman goes to jail and he gets a good sentence, it will end. But for now, it’s far from over. »
Every evening, parents and elders try to reason with the most violent young people. Kamel Ghenim has tried with those who remain in the entrance of building 4, but without success: ” Frankly, they no longer want to listen, they no longer believe in it. Before, it was 17, 18, and 20 years old. Now at 14, look what they do! They are out of school, which means: they hang out in the street, they do anything. How do you control a child of 14, 15 who answers you, who insults you, as a parent? Who says to you: “Yeah, yeah, you’re right!” And who leaves slamming the door. »
Despite this, the elders are doing everything to keep in touch with the young people, they hope – perhaps without believing it too much – that their city will not be set ablaze like 18 years ago.
” It’s a spark that ignited »
And yet, the situation was inevitable, thinks Kamel Ghenim, resident of a city of Clichy-sous-Bois, involved in the local associative world: “ In truth, the young man’s death was a spark that was ignited. Because the fed up, it is there. When you see that the police come in front of a housing estate, put our children squatting on the ground, every night, they are entitled to it. So at some point, it’s the ras-le-bol. »
” Remember the story of 2005, the young people who diedcontinues Kamel Ghenim. They were pursued, we could have arrested them, the cameras filmed them, we could have arrested them quietly at home, asleep. Why did you go any further, until they killed each other? Same for Nahel. Let’s listen to young people. If this message can get through. I ask the President of the Republic: we are a team of young people who would like to talk to you. This team is serious people, who work, who get up, who go to work in the morning and who come home. The President of the Republic says: “We will solve the problem without taboo”. Serious ? If we talk about “without taboo”, I’m not saying that all police officers are racist, but we have racist police officers. »
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