French President Emmanuel Macron calls a meeting with the two speakers of the parliament and mayors from over 220 municipalities, writes Le Monde.
This after the violent riots that shook the country.
– Macron really wants to get to the bottom of this, says TV4’s foreign reporter Jennifer Paterson.
Today, Macron will receive Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher, leaders of the National Assembly and the Senate, respectively. During the day, the country’s Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne will hold talks with group leaders of the various political parties in parliament.
On Tuesday, Macron also invited mayors from over 220 municipalities that have been affected by the riots. The announcement came after several hours of deliberation in the Elysée Palace, when Macron reconciled the situation with several of his ministers.
– Then Macron will have another crisis meeting, like the one he had yesterday, in another 48 hours which will be tomorrow. So they are ready to take strong measures, says Jennifer Paterson, foreign reporter TV4.
Riots in France
To deal with the violence that is shaking France, around 45,000 police officers have been deployed. The same number of police officers will continue to work during the night until Monday, according to French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. However, the situation has been scaled down.
– It has been a significantly quieter night than we have seen here before. The latest figures we have received on people arrested are 78 and there have been no major individual incidents, says Jennifer Paterson.
– If you compare to previous nights, there were 700 arrests just the night before.
This brings the total number of arrests to over 3,000 since Tuesday when the unrest escalated. In pictures from Marseille that the BBC has published, it can be seen how a shrapnel-protected troop transport vehicle was deployed on the streets of Marseille to support the police.
– It can be tempting to think that violence can decrease and that it has turned. But if you listen to the French authorities, you certainly can’t say that yet, says Jennifer Paterson.
Attack on mayor’s home
Two days ago, a local mayor’s home in Paris was targeted by a car attack. The act was condemned by the country’s Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne who called it “particularly shocking”.
– It is the feeling of injustice that has driven the riots and can explain why people react so strongly, says Christophe Premat, political scientist and associate professor of French.
The unrest in France began as a result of a 17-year-old, Nahel, being shot dead by police in sensational fashion earlier this week.
– What was interesting is that the police had come out with a press release that it was in self-defense that they acted, which was then disproved by a film from a mobile phone, says Christophe Premat.
During Sunday, several family members of Nahel appeared in the French and international media, where they called for calm and pleaded for an end to the vandalism.