Nadia, former owner of a garden center in the Hérault, has just offloaded 200 euros. For that amount, she didn’t treat herself to a good restaurant or new shoes. She preferred to give her money to the kitty “in support of the family of the Nanterre policeman”, in two successive transfers. This subscription, closed overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, was launched by Jean Messiha, former spokesperson for the National Rally and Eric Zemmour. The Héraultaise claims not to appreciate the extreme right and to have only wanted to affirm her support for the police. “I deplore all the political appropriations made by the far right, I just want to support the family and the police officers at the end of their tether,” she said, detailing her “fed up with the violence and the attacks on the symbols of the Republic”. The indictment for intentional homicide of the policeman who shot the young Nahel on Tuesday, June 27, does not convince her: “I do not condone the fact that this young man was killed, but for me, the agent was in performance of his duties and shall benefit from the presumption of innocence.”
The amount challenges. Five days after its launch, the kitty launched on the GoFundMe platform reached nearly 1.5 million euros in donations. No less than 76,000 people have already taken part, most of the time anonymously and for amounts between 5 and 20 euros on average. But some Internet users have spent 500, 700, 1,000 or even 3,000 euros, increasing the total amount significantly. An unexpected – and impressive – craze that provoked the indignation of part of the political class.
Not just relatives of far-right parties
Among the subscribers interviewed by L’Express, some display unambiguous political commitments. This is the case with Laurent, who claims his support for Reconquête and Eric Zemmour, and indicates that he participated in the amount of 60 euros, mainly to “support” the police officer in question “and his family”. “This kitty symbolizes my support for the police in the face of the riots and irresponsible attacks by the clientelist far left, seeking to make people believe that systemic racism would prevail within them”, asserts the activist, who believes that the “presumption of innocence” of the shooter was “flouted”.
Nadine, a hospital official in Angers and also a member of Reconquête, donated 20 euros. “It could have been created by Mr. Dupont, it would have been the same thing. I just wanted to show that I am embarrassed by the fact that this policeman is thrown into the woods and treated as a murderer”, argues this “ex-cop wife” , who wishes by this act “to make his voice heard”. On social networks, a number of activists proudly display, like a political banner, their participation in the kitty, sometimes accompanied by the hashtag “#CagnottedelaFiertéNationale”, launched this Tuesday, July 4 on Twitter in opposition to #CagnottedelaHonte, launched a few hours earlier. Some 6,000 people had “liked” Jean Messiha’s post calling for this pro-police hashtag to be shared by the end of the day.
Conversely, some participants in the kitty refute any affiliation to an identified political camp. Marie-Eve, a 54-year-old caregiver, voted for Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round of the 2022 presidential election, then Marine Le Pen in the second “to counter Macron”. She assures “not to link her participation to any political affiliation”: “Whether the police officer is guilty or not, that is not the question: our participation is above all a symbol of respect for the police”, she testifies. , assuring that he still wants above all “to support the work of the police, the State and the Republic”.
According to Jean-Yves Camus, associate researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris) and specialist in the far right, “there are obviously relatives of far-right parties among the participants in this kitty, but not only”. According to him, the donors thus belong “to a much wider circle” than just members of these parties. “Spontaneously, some citizens recognized themselves in a conception of society according to which the police will always be right. It must be remembered that there is a sacralization of the police or the army, regardless of the tenor of the facts, which does not is not the only monopoly of the extreme right”, he summarizes.
A second kitty launched
Laurent, technician in Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne), corresponds to the robot portrait. The 50-year-old thus claims to “abhor” the National Rally, Reconquest!, says he is “rather on the left”, and voted Emmanuel Macron in the last presidential election. He still wanted to participate in the kitty up to 10 euros, “to support the police in their everyday work”.
“This kitty only illustrates an even more visible divide between two camps that we cannot manage to dialogue”, comments Jean-Yves Camus. “Those who think that the police, by construction and because it holds the monopoly of legitimate violence, are always right, and those who think, also by construction, that France is a structurally racist state”.
On Twitter, the first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) Olivier Faure shared his anger towards the GoFundMe platform, accusing it of “maintaining an already gaping fracture, by participating in the support of a police officer indicted for voluntary manslaughter”. “The message? It pays to kill a young Arab,” said LFI MEP Manon Aubry, calling for its removal “as soon as possible”, while Clémence Guetté, LFI MP for Val-de-Marne, denounced a “absolute indecency and horror”.
Jean Messiha, he congratulates himself with L’Express on a “success”, symbol according to him of “the mobilization of a part of France”, tired that “police officers are constantly pointed out” and to whom we would have “too long given the order to be silent”. A second kitty, launched by the Amicale des police motorcyclists des Hauts-de-Seine – company in which the officer in question worked – was also created on Friday. “Many police officers, but also ordinary citizens from all over France, have already participated,” says Mickael Dequin, deputy departmental secretary of the SGP Police 92 union at the initiative of the device. This Tuesday, July 4, she already collected more than 72,000 euros.