More frequent, the knife attacks worry to Matignon. François Bayrou has just called on deputies to seize the question of the circulation of white weapons on French territory.
After the murder of the young Elias, 14, attacked on the knife last Friday, François Bayrou invited the deputies to “seize (the) question of the port of white weapons”. “The idea that knives carried by young people are not the subject of any sanction, it also nourishes the feeling of impunity. I find that it is our collective responsibility and I invite all the deputies of all the Groups to work on this subject, “launched the Prime Minister during the question session of the government (QAG) on Tuesday in the National Assembly.
As France Info indicates in a dedicated report this Wednesday, the use of white weapons is greatly developed in France, especially in the Paris region. Some young people even bring it to high school. “Knives, but also telescopic batons, even if they are more difficult to hide” are present in the establishment, abounds a high school student in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, at the microphone of France Info.
“Through certain Telegram, Snapchat and even Tiktok loops, some are gargling to display knives,” regrets Abdoulaye Kanté, a police officer with the media. And for good reason, if the flights with stabbing weapons are decreasing over a year, the seizures of weapons of this type increase. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of white weapons entered increased from 6,000 to 6,500 according to figures from the police headquarters. An increase of 9% in twelve months.
Also questioned, the Paris police prefect LaurentNuñez is sounding the alarm on a phenomenon which he considers “actually disturbing”: “In almost a confrontation between bands in two, we have the use of a weapon by destination or a stabbing weapon. And these clashes concern On the Paris agglomeration, almost 80% of minors, “he explains.
“120 knife attacks per day”? Bardella’s assertion
If this subject returns to the front of the stage at the start of 2025, it is not new, quite the contrary. And the political class does not fail to seize it. As when the president of the National Rally Jordan Bardella mentioned security during the presentation of his program for the legislative elections on June 24, 2024 in Paris. He then mentioned a figure of “120 knife attacks per day” in France, without giving the slightest source. A figure already brandished by the foal of Marine Le Pen, on May 2, 2024, during a debate opposing him as the head of the Macronist list, Valérie Hayer.
However, no study makes it possible to quantify the attacks with a daily knife in France. “This statistic has no consistency”, judge Guillaume burden, security consultant in the columns of BFMTV. If we simply speak of homicide, in 2023, 1,010 attacks were recorded according to the figures of Ministry of the Interior. This represents 2.77 homicides per day, far from the 120 advanced by Jordan Bardella. In addition, all these homicides were not committed with a knife. This is why, these figures whose scope can be significant and serious should be handled with the greatest meticulousness.
For example, in mid-2024, the voluntary assault on a person aged 15 or over recorded increased very slightly (+ 1%) over the last twelve months. The voluntary assault and injuries on a person aged 15 or over taking place outside the family frame drop very slightly in the last twelve months (- 1%), while those under the family frame increase (+ 3%), according to data from Interior Ministry.
Cartography, profile of attackers … The proposal of a Senator LR
This figure of 120 daily attacks with a knife in France had also been mentioned by senator LR Valérie Boyer, and more particularly in a question in the Senate on July 7, 2022. A figure assimilated to “extrapolation”, by the Minister of the Interior, contacted by BFMTV. On November 7, 2024, this same parliamentarian returned to the charge with a new question for the first French copin this case Gérald Darmanin. It cites this time the National Observatory for Delinquency and Criminal Responses (ONDRP) and denounces its suppression in 2020, replaced by INSEE and the Ministries of the Interior and Justice, “without certainties on the effectiveness of such deletion “in his words.
She would like to obtain more information and analyzes on these stabbing attacks and the attackers in the form of a detailed and precise cartography, while the “knife attacks” are “in First position “and that this represents” more than 120 victims per day on average “, she continues.” It seems that this cartography is also necessary to add to it the profile of the aggressors (…) and be able to compare these attacks With attacks from previous years in order to establish if there is indeed an increase in this format of violence in France, and in what proportions, “she concludes.