Global Courant
STORY: The mood was sombre but challenging at a meeting in the French town of L’Hay-les-Roses, one of several town halls outside the country.
The rally was in solidarity with the city’s mayor, whose home was attacked this weekend by rioters enraged by the police shooting of a teenager of North African descent.
The mayor himself, Vincent Jeanbrun, said rioters rammed a vehicle into his home on Saturday night while his wife and children slept inside and set it on fire.
This woman who works in L’Hay-les-Roses said she found the violence inexplicable in what she thought was an extremely quiet town with very civilized people.
This man said the death of Nahel, the teen shot by police, was inexcusable, but he saw no connection to attacking the mayor and said there was a general sense of disproportion to what happened.
Tension appears to have eased across the country with fewer arrests on Monday compared to previous days of rioting sparked by the fatal shooting of Nahel M. by police last week.
The incident touched a deep well of resentment towards the police and what some Muslim communities of North African descent believe is a long history of racial profiling, sparking days of rioting that left cars burned and looted stores and state property.
But instead of focusing on race, far-left and far-right lawmakers on Monday blamed government policy failures for the riots.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne acknowledged that some soul-searching should be done for the administration, but that will only come after order is restored.
“The crisis raises numerous questions and the various group presidents were given the opportunity to speak on these topics. But I think we will have the opportunity to meet again, continue and go deeper into these conversations. In any case, our priority today is to ensure the return of Republican order with the kind of order maintained tonight and with a strong criminal response.”
French President Emanual Macron has postponed a state visit to Germany to deal with the crisis.
He will speak with more than 220 mayors of towns and cities affected by the riots on Tuesday.
