French government spokesman, Olivier Veranwarned this Sunday against making generalizations about the French police following the case of the death of the young Nahel at a roadblock and He assured that where there are abuses, Justice investigates it.
“Attention to not making generalizations from a particular situation. That is the message, I believe, that our security forces that are mobilized on the ground need to hear,” Véran defended in an interview on the FranceInfo public channel.
Asked about the use of force by the security forces, especially since a legal change that expanded the justified uses of weapons in 2017, the government spokesman stressed that “wherever there were failures, wherever it was excessive, wherever it was inadequate, there is an investigation by the General Inspectorate and justice is there“.
This position had also been stressed on Friday by the Executive of Emmanuel Macron after having received reproaches from the UN Office for Human Rights, claiming to seriously address “the deep problems of racism and discrimination” of the forces of order, something that Paris flatly rejected.
But regarding the death of Nahel, the minor of Arab descent who died from a police shot last Tuesday in Nanterre, Véran remarked that it is “obviously a human drama that needs a response from Justice.”
Véran also reviewed the situation in the country after these five consecutive nights of riots -mainly carried out by young people, even up to 13 years old- and about the conditions of inequality and lack of opportunities in many popular neighborhoods that have functioned as a soup breeding ground for this violence.
In this sense, he defended the measures taken by Emmanuel Macron in the last five years and stressed: “I do not understand how 12-year-old children can be at 3 in the morning in the middle of a city, far from home, with a metal bar in the hands”.
Parallel to these statements, the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, and the Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, traveled to the town of L’Haÿ-les-Roses (on the southern outskirts of Paris), whose mayor, Vincent Jeanbrun, suffered a serious attack tonight at his family residence in the context of the riots.
While he was working at City Hall, individuals wanted for attempted murder drove a burning car into the house, where his 5- and 7-year-old children and his wife were.
One of the children had to be treated for injuries, like the mother, with a broken leg.
During last night, at least 719 people were arrested, 45 police officers were injured, there were 871 fires on public roads and damage to 74 buildings, according to the latest available official balance.
Despite the still bulky figures, the Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that tonight was “quieter” than the previous ones.
This afternoon, Macron plans to make an assessment of the situation at the Elysee together with some of his ministers, starting at 7:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. GMT).