France faces ‘uncivilising process’ of violence, says Emmanuel Macron

Issued on: 25/05/2023 – 13:41

“We must be uncompromising on the fundamentals. There is no legitimate violence, whether verbal or against people,” Macron told ministers at a cabinet meeting.

“We have to work from top to bottom to counteract this uncivilising process,” he added, in comments first reported by daily Le Parisien and confirmed to AFP by a person present in the meeting room.

Macron was “calling society to order,” a person close to the president told Le Parisien anonymously, adding that “politicians aren’t the only ones responsible” for reducing violence.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Wednesday participated in a minute’s silence for a nurse slain Monday in the eastern city of Reims, in a knife attack by a man suffering from psychiatric problems.

Macron was to travel on Thursday to Roubaix in northern France, to pay respects to three policemen killed in a Sunday car crash with a man under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

This week’s violence follows assaults on elected officials, including a mayor in western France who stepped down after an arson attack on his house.

Opponents of an accommodation centre for asylum seekers in the town of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins are believed to have set the fire.

>> Read more: As French mayors are targeted in violent attacks, many feel abandoned

Other officials including MPs have had their constituency offices vandalised for political motives amid seen fierce protests over Macron’s unpopular pension reform.

(AFP)