Macron government shifts stance on police violence to quell unrest after death of teen

French President Emmanuel Macron didn’t mince his words when he condemned the “inexplicable” and “unforgiveable” act committed by the police officer who killed 17-year-old Nahel in Nanterre, a Paris suburb, on Tuesday.

“Nothing justifies the death of a young person,” he said on Wednesday, June 28 during a visit to Marseille, speaking to the press about “words of affection, shared sorrow and support for [Nahel’s] family and loved ones”. 

That same day, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne addressed the Senate, denouncing the “shocking images” that “show an intervention that clearly does not comply with the rules of engagement of our police forces”.

For his part, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called the video footage of the police shooting “extremely shocking” and spoke out against “acts that absolutely do not comply with the instructions and laws of the Republic”, before dubbing the event “a tragedy, because there is no other word for the death of a young person”.

Finally, the president of the French National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, invited MPs to hold a minute of silence in parliament on Wednesday afternoon “in memory of Nahel, in support of his parents and loved ones”.

Their tone is one of appeasement and differs from the stance top government officials normally take in events like these. After a 19-year-old Guinean man was fatally shot in western France earlier this month, Nahel is the second victim to be killed by police in a traffic stop in 2023. In 2022, 13 people were shot and killed by police in cases of non-compliance.  

Read moreWhy deadly police shootings are on the rise on France’s roads

In the case of the young Guinean man, police maintained the officer had acted in self-defence. This argument is systematically put forward by authorities when there is no footage of the event. For the 13 fatal shootings that took place in 2022, only five police officers have been indicted. Others involved in the events have been released without prosecution, at least for now. When asked about these deaths on October 27, 2022, Darmanin told French radio station France Inter: “Police officers and gendarmes are the first victims in cases of non-compliance”.  

A game-changing video

Footage of the police officer shooting young Nahel point-blank taken by bystanders came out a few hours after his death on Tuesday morning and went viral on social media. It was a game-changer. The video shows two officers standing alongside the car Nahel was in, in no danger of being run over.

The audio is even more damning, according to Fabien Jobard, a director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) who specialises in police issues. “You can hear the officer’s colleague saying something like ‘shoot him’ and threatening the young man by saying ‘you’re going to get a bullet in the head’ or something along those lines … The audio leaves no room for doubt,” he told France Inter on Thursday morning.

On the first night of unrest in Nanterre, which took place on Tuesday, comparisons were made to the nationwide riots that took place in 2005 after two boys died in a police chase. The connection pushed top government officials to call for calm.

Read moreFrance police shooting: Country haunted by the prospect of a repeat of 2005 riots

During questions posed to the government on Tuesday afternoon, Darmanin was much more measured in his response. He said he was “attentive to the presumption of innocence of the police” and said that “in many cases, unfortunately, police officers and gendarmes have died in cases of non-compliance”.

Renaissance (formerly République en Marche) Party MP Caroline Abadie went even further in her defence of the police officers involved. “It is still the police who have the right to use force … When there is a police roadblock, we stop. Period,” she said.

Police unions left stunned

Police unions were surprised to see how President Macron’s stance had shifted compared to previous, similar events. “With words like ‘inexplicable’ and ‘unforgivable’, which run contrary to his statements of support for police, it is inconceivable that the president … should show contempt for the separation of powers and judicial independence by condemning our colleagues, even before they are given a verdict,” the Alliance police union wrote in a press release.

Another major police union, Unité SGP Police, insisted on the “presumption of innocence” which “is not optional, it is the law”. “It applies to everyone, including police officers,” they wrote in a press release.

France Police, a union close to the far right, went so far as to justify Nahel’s death in a (now deleted) tweet. “Congratulations to the colleagues who opened fire on a young 17-year-old criminal. By neutralising his vehicle, they protected their lives and those of other drivers. The only ones responsible for this thug’s death are his parents, who were incapable of educating their son,” it read.

Darmanin did not let the tweet slide. According to a press release, the interior minister has asked for a report to be made on the national Pharos platform, which flags illicit online content and behaviour, and will take the matter to Paris’s public prosecutor. He also asked his department to “look into the procedure for dissolving this group”.

Appeasement… but with a firm hand

As the sun set on Thursday, a third evening of riots engulfed Paris, its suburbs and other cities across France. Police arrested 875 people overnight on Thursday, half of whom were in the Paris region. President Macron said on Friday that 492 buildings had been damaged, 2,000 vehicles set alight and 3,880 fires started.

Read moreFires, looting and hundreds of arrests: Key events from the third night of violence in France

In the face of the riots, Macron is taking a firm stance. On Thursday, he denounced “scenes of unjustifiable violence” against the French Republic during an emergency security meeting, which was aimed at securing hot spots and prepping for the coming days “so full peace can return”.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne is following in Macron’s footsteps, calling for calm while also condemning the violence that is spreading throughout urban areas. Asked by reporters on Friday if declaring a state of emergency was a possibility, as some right-wing opposition parties have demanded, Borne replied: “I won’t say that now, but we are looking at all options, with one priority: restoring order throughout the country.”

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called Thursday’s riots a night of “rare violence”, for which he had deployed 40,000 police officers, a quadrupling of the normal forces in place. His office described the arrests that took place as a sharp increase on previous operations, part of an overall government effort to be “extremely firm” with rioters.

The government is also planning a “change of doctrine, to be more offensive” in its response, according to a police source quoted by AFP.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said the government would examine “all options” for restoring order on Friday. 

Heading a crisis meeting for the second time in two days, Macron said he was ready to change the security arrangements “without taboos”.

Talk of appeasement has hardened in the face of the surge in violence. 

This article was adapted from the original in French.