In the context of the riots in France, old allegations are being raised again: the police are racist. What’s with the allegations?
Paris – After a police officer in Nanterre shot dead 17-year-old Nahel M. in the driver’s seat of a car during a traffic stop at close range, it’s happening in cities across France to protests and riots. The case brings well-known problems back into the public eye.
Especially in the Parisian suburbs like Nanterre, where Nahel M. lived and was killed, the mood was already charged due to economic disadvantage and lack of prospects. A large part of the population there has a migration background and lives in precarious conditions. The death of Nahel M. was the straw that broke the camel’s back – once again.
Riots are nothing new in the banlieues. Protests had already escalated in 2005 after the death of two young men. For one side, the riots are an expression of the anger that arises from a lack of opportunities and discrimination by the state. The other side attributes it to destructiveness and sees racist prejudices confirmed. It’s in again France the debate flared up as to whether the police were acting in a racist manner.
France: Fear of the police increases
Since 2017, France has had a controversial law that allows officers to take up arms if they “disobey orders,” even when there is no imminent danger. While officers should only fire their firearms in “absolutely necessary” situations, a road traffic clause suffices if officers suspect a future crime. This means that if the police officers assume that the inmates could attack their own lives or the lives of others while trying to escape, they are allowed to shoot.
The number of fatalities in this type of police operation has since increased. In 2022 alone, police killed 13 people in their car. According to criminologist Sebastian Roché, the dead are disproportionately ethnic minorities, although police in France do not release relevant background information on the victims, he told the regional newspaper La Voix du Nord. According to Roché, the French police are “the deadliest in Europe,” he told the Time. Because of such cases as in the case of Nahel M., people’s fear of the police increases – which means that they prefer to flee, for example, in the case of traffic or identity checks, rather than deal with the officers.
Political scientist Jacques de Maillard agrees with Roché: “The deteriorating relationship between the police and young working-class men from ethnic minorities is a key element of the situation in France,” he told the Deutsche Welle.
Racism in the police: human rights organizations call on France to act
Demonstrators accused the police to various media of primarily targeting non-white people. The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) shared the Deutsche Welle said Nahel M.’s death “raises pressing questions about law enforcement’s excessive use of force.” Especially towards groups that are affected by racist clichés. ENAR called on the French government to address human rights organizations’ concerns about racist policing.
According to the independent agency Défenseur des droits (English: Defender of Rights), whose existence is enshrined in the French constitution, young black men or men of North African origin are 20 times more likely to be subjected to identity checks than the rest of the population. The same authority criticizes that there is no way for those affected to lodge a complaint against unfounded checks, insults or beatings by officials.
The UN human rights commissioner called on France “to seriously address the profound problems of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement”. But France has denied the allegations. The Foreign Ministry in Paris said that “any allegation regarding Racism or structural discrimination in the police force in France totally unfounded”.
France denies racism in the police – but right-wing ideas dominate
Fraser McQueen, Professor of French Studies at the University of Edinburgh, told France24that this denial was “outrageous”. The problem of racism and discrimination in the police force is known to arbitration authorities in France and non-governmental organizations both nationally and internationally. “This idea that there is no structural racism is simply incorrect. It’s wrong,” he is quoted as saying.
McQueen refers to statistics for the 2022 presidential election. According to a survey by the Cluster17 institute, 39 percent of police officers and military personnel supported the Islamophobic right-wing populist Marine Le Pen voted, 25 percent for far right Éric Zemmour. Right-wing ideas in the French police cannot be denied. According to political scientists and activists, structural racism in France is linked to the colonial past. Principles such as freedom, equality and fraternity did not apply to the people of Algeria – which still resonates today. Many of the people in the banlieues are of Algerian background.
France: Police unions face ‘war’ with rioters
In any case, statements by some French police unions do not seem to contribute to the de-escalation. The “Alliance Police Nationale” and “Unsa Police” spoke in a statement of “war” against rampaging “pests”. “In the face of these wild hordes, it is no longer enough to call for calm, you have to force it.” It also said: “Tomorrow we will be in the resistance, the government must be aware of that.”
“Our colleagues, like the majority of citizens, are fed up with suffering at the dictates of these violent minorities,” it said. The two unions represent around half of the police officers in France.
The left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon criticized the police representatives: “The trade unions that call for civil war must learn to remain silent. We have seen the murderous behavior such statements lead to. Political power must bring the police back under control. Those who want quiet shouldn’t add fuel to the fire,” he wrote on Twitter. The Green politician Marine Tondelier also wrote on Twitter about a “structural problem in the police force”. The text of the police unions is a “call for civil war”.
Political scientists like Fabien Jobard say that the French police are more aggressive than the German ones. “Police violence is much more common in France than in Germany,” said the Frenchman WDR. In the banlieues, “fundamentally confrontational patterns of action” can be seen among the police. According to Jobard, there is also a “certain degree of disregard that can lead to violence”. Johannes Maria Becker from the University of Marburg is also observing “a certain racism among the French security forces”, which has grown historically. “It has something to do with the colonial past and is also the reason why racism is more pronounced towards the North African states,” he said in an interview Ippen.Media.
According to Fabien Jobard, the situation in the economically disadvantaged districts would be difficult to improve. The police unions in particular have no interest in changing anything. Politicians also have little room for manoeuvre. (lrg/afp)
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