Doing things the French Way.

[K-Dog]

It is a George Floyd Sort of thing:

Sort of.


"Liberty, Equality, Security"
On the uprising in the French suburbs

On the morning of Tuesday, June 27, the people of France woke up to find a nightmare had come to life. In Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, the police had killed again—this time a 17-year-old teenager called Nahel Merzouk. The incident occurred after Nahel and his two passengers were pulled over by the police near Nanterre-Prefecture train station. One of the officers pointed a gun at Nahel's head and threatened him—shouting "Hurry up! Or you'll get a bullet in the head!"—and hit him. Frightened, Nahel took his foot off the brake of his automatic transmission car, which was starting to move forward again. That's when the officer shot and killed him.

Initially, the police attempted to shift the blame by claiming self-defense, but a video of the incident quickly circulated, exposing the truth.1 Not only had the police killed a young man, but they had also tried to blame the victim for his own death. In a working-class suburb where residents have been victims of police harassment and violence for decades, this most recent police crime was the final straw. It wasn't long before public anger exploded. Starting that Tuesday evening, uprisings broke out in several French cities, including Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Lille. People expressed their anger by starting fires, burning cars and public buildings, as well as clashing with the police.

Contrary to the prevailing media narrative that labeled the rebels as nihilistic, their targets held significant political meaning. When a group of youths besieged a public finance center near Nancy,2 they were protesting about the class-based tax system. The destruction in wealthy districts of Paris, such as Rue de Rivoli and the 12th Arrondissement,3 struck at the core of French bourgeois society. The burning of the Olympic Games construction site reflected the militant slogan of the pension reform movement: "No withdrawal [of the pension reform bill], no Olympics!"4 In Lyon, when fascist groups ambushed young people from immigrant backgrounds,5 they defended themselves in a powerful anti-fascist response.

The Article.

Resulting in:

More than 700 sentenced to prison over French riots .