Confidences gleaned here and there. Formulas launched with a punch, the violence of which reveals an intense anger. This Monday, July 3, the Renaissance deputy Robin Reda participates in front of the town hall of Juvisy-sur-Orge (Essonne) in a rally organized in support of the elected officials attacked during the urban riots. These five nights have fueled the anger of the inhabitants. “Soft” version: “We must reintroduce military service”, “We must not give a euro for these guys”. Hard version: “You have to shoot and make examples.”
The death of Nahel, a teenager killed by a policeman at point-blank range after refusing to comply, is forgotten by part of the population. Worse, it is sometimes revisited in the light of violence. To Robin Reda, residents criticize the holding of a minute of silence in the National Assembly in tribute to the young man. In the Yvelines, a deputy notes a lack of empathy among some. “People told me: ‘if you don’t want to die, you don’t leave’.” These sentences, Mathieu Lefèvre heard them. Invariably, the deputy of Val-de-Marne repeats that “nothing justifies the death of a 17-year-old kid”. Words of reason that often fly, after a first eruptive reaction. But not always. “Nahel’s death was buried under the violence, confirms a deputy, elected in a constituency where Marine Le Pen had a majority in 2022. The person who embodies the figure of the victim today is Vincent Jeanbrun.” The mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses was targeted last weekend by an assault with a burning ram car.
The executive embarrassed on the kitty
The police officer who fired the shot thus benefited from a movement of solidarity through a kitty launched by a media figure from the far right, Jean Messiha. This common pot, closed this Wednesday, shows a total amount of more than 1,600,000 euros. It arouses the indignation of the left, but a minimum service of the government. Just Elisabeth Borne judges that the initiative does not “contribute to appeasement”. “No comment”, dodges an ex-PS minister. The executive knows that the kitty meets a popular echo and that its condemnation would trigger the fury of police unions. “It serves as a stress relief fund. You have to leave valves”, summarizes a pillar of the left wing of Renaissance, aware of walking on embers.
This stiffening of opinion is illuminated by a Elabe survey for BFMTV. 53% of French people approve of the words of Emmanuel Macron, who spoke of an “inexplicable” and “inexcusable” act the day after Nahel’s death. 47%, on the other hand, disagree. Only this subject divides. Nine out of ten French people believe that this death was used as a pretext for most of the rioters to “break up” and 93% of them condemn this violence. Their reading is hardly social. Asked about the main causes of the events, the respondents first cite the lack of authority of the parents (66%, 3 possible answers among 9 items), clearly ahead of the lack of severity of the justice system (55%) and the trafficking of drugs in certain neighborhoods (43%).
“A real shift in opinion”
At the top of the state, we see this hardening. Firmness, nothing but firmness. “We feel a real shift in public opinion. The Macronist fringe, even from the left, is fed up. People can no longer stand lukewarm words”, notes a regular interlocutor of Emmanuel Macron, who prides himself on plead for the use of the word “recivilization”. Message received. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and his justice counterpart Eric Dupond-Moretti pose as guarantors of republican order. During crisis meetings, the Beauvau tenant pays particular attention to the state of mind of the French people. Even the discreet Edouard Philippe denounces “eruptions of violence which damage our faith in ourselves, our confidence in France” in a letter to the members of Horizons.
This security tint was felt Tuesday during the meeting of the three groups of the majority. Evoking a France at the “crossroads of migratory, security and educational choices”, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire warned parliamentarians: “It is out of the question to spend billions on guys who are going to burn them.” This message echoes a deep feeling in the majority: the French have a security perception of events, and do not want to hear about the suburban plan or city policy. “To pour money to put out the fire would not be effective, and not understood by the French”, judges a framework of the majority. “This money helped to make society? No”, mocks a Renaissance deputy from the right.
Emmanuel Macron must himself come to terms with this volcanic opinion. The President of the Republic spoke of better accountability of the parents of children who are perpetrators of violence, a message of firmness. Nothing more. The Head of State knows that urgency is a bad adviser. It wants to establish a precise diagnosis of the violence and identify the correlations between the affected areas and the public policies carried out there before moving on to the proposal stage. “The worst thing would be to react under the influence of emotion, explains an adviser. As with the forfeiture of nationality launched just after the attacks of November 13.” François Hollande, eternal anti-model.
“It’s a crisis of authority”
The Head of State received Tuesday at the Elysée the mayors of more than 300 municipalities. The LR councilor of Colmar Eric Straumann summed up the ambient disagreement at the exit: “Right-wing mayors offer right-wing solutions, authority, education, left-wing mayors offer left-wing solutions, more money”. What political reading should be given to the riots? What answer to give? This debate wins the majority quietly. In the right wing, we show ourselves in tune with public opinion. “It’s a crisis of authority and not social, judge Mathieu Lefèvre. To say the opposite would be an insult to people living in precariousness and in landlocked territories.” “Restoring order is not a short-term issue, but a real social project”, abounds Robin Reda.
Social responses to the crisis are now swimming against the tide. What response will the bill prepared by MP Marc Ferracci on the fight against discrimination have? Who will be interested in the training of police officers, a subject dear to the president of the Commission of laws Sacha Houlié? “After the restoration of order, you have to ask yourself the right questions, such as the place of public services in these neighborhoods or specialized prevention, insists Renaissance MP Caroline Janvier. RN.” Response made less audible by the attitude of La France insoumise: its refusal to call for calm equates any social gaze with complacency towards violence. A majority executive summarizes: “The expectation of a 360-degree look at the crisis is less strong in public opinion than in the political community. But answers will have to be provided on all subjects.”