“Nothing will happen.” This senior police source wants to be reassuring about possible violence after the second round of the legislative elections: no specific or detailed information indicates that riots could break out this Sunday, July 7. After the first round, on June 30, a few clashes marred the evening, linked to anti-National Rally demonstrations: shop windows broken in Nantes, a police officer injured in Lyon, projectiles thrown or trash cans set on fire in Bordeaux. But nothing serious.
This Thursday, July 4, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, announced on France 2 a “very large security operation” on the evening of the second round, “so that the far left or the far right do not take advantage of these results to create disorder”. According to the national police, 30,000 police officers and gendarmes will be mobilized throughout France. In Paris, 2,800 civil servants will be deployed, compared to 1,700 on the evening of the first round, an increase of 65%. Mobile forces will remain present in the largest cities until at least July 16, in order to prevent possible disturbances. According to our information, this operation concerns Paris and the Ile-de-France region, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Rennes, Nantes, Rouen, Angers, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier, Nîmes, Nice, Avignon, Grenoble, Saint-Etienne, Nancy, Strasbourg and Mulhouse.
“Places of power”
The far-left is considered the main threat. The slogan “keep the ballot boxes, we’re taking to the streets” is currently circulating on some activist loops. The small group Action antifasciste Paris-Banlieue has already called for a demonstration in front of the Palais Bourbon in Paris on July 7 starting at 8 p.m. In the first round of the legislative elections last Sunday, but also in the second round of the 2022 presidential elections, the main disturbances to public order broke out on the sidelines of gatherings of this so-called “anti-fascist” movement. On Europe 1, on June 25, Gérald Darmanin imagined these activists attacking “places of power”. Beware of false leads, however: on July 4, an order signed by the chief of staff of the President of the Republic was published in the Official Journal; it makes the area around the Elysée a “protected zone”, covered by “filtering”. According to our information, absolutely nothing to do with the political situation: it is about extending the status of the premises of the presidency of the Republic to a shop of official objects due to open soon.
The far right is also showing signs of unrest. In Nancy, on the evening of June 30, around fifty identity activists demonstrated in the streets shouting “Nancy, nationalist” and “France, the streets belong to us”, according to France 3. In a telegram sent to the prefects after the European elections of June 9, Gérald Darmanin mentions “2,700 individuals” followed on the far right and “5,500 individuals” on the far left.
“If they attack us…”
An association leader, who has been traveling in the suburbs for the past three weeks, also describes the “concern” and nervousness in certain neighborhoods. This source indicates that in the Bosquets de Montfermeil housing estate, in Seine-Saint-Denis, local gangs are concerned about “unknown cars” seen driving around the estate several times a week. “If they attack us, we’ll blow them up,” this association leader heard. Our police source responds that at this stage, “no” particular initiative by the far right in the suburbs has been spotted.
There remains violence against candidates and their supporters. “There is a climate of great violence towards politics and what it represents,” said Gérald Darmanin on Friday, July 5 on BFMTV. 51 attacks on candidates, substitutes or activists have been recorded since the start of the election campaign. “These are people who are either spontaneously angry, which shows this France on edge, or political activists or far-left or far-right activists from other political parties,” describes the Minister of the Interior. Among the police officials, no one dares to say that this nauseating climate will end this Sunday, July 7.
.