Urban violence seems to be calming down in France after the riots that shook working-class neighborhoods in major French cities in response to the death of Nahel.M on June 27. In the Roseraie district of Angers, two young people who did not participate in the demonstrations agreed to testify and share their point of view on the causes of the conflagration of the urban suburbs.
“What touched me were the reasons that triggered the violence. The fact that you can take a person’s life without having consequences behind. All the urban violence started because of a murder that has been legalized.” Mohamed Adam’s tone is bitter.
This 19-year-old lives in the Roseraie district of Angers (Maine-et-Loire), which experienced a night of urban violence between June 30 and July 1. This is the case in many other suburbs across France after the death of Nahel, 17, shot dead by police during a refusal to comply with a road check on Tuesday June 27.
The policeman became rich, he was arrested, but for how long? He was arrested so that all the districts of France would calm down.
Mohamed Adam
Resident of the Roseraie district in Angers
Calm has returned, but nothing is forgiven, in particular the existence of a kitty launched by far-right politician Jean Messiha and dedicated to the family of the policeman who shot the shot, which reached 1.6 million euros.
“They will wait for us to forget, for things to settle down, Mohammad thinks. And then it will be “Sir, you are free”. He won’t be able to do his job anymore, but he doesn’t care, he’s rich. This is what irritates most young people. A murder is a murder. You may be a policeman or a young person. He cannot be excused.”
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Mohamed Adam, 19, gives his opinion on the riots that occurred after Nahel’s death. • ©France Télévisions / Marion Naumann / Jérémy Armand
The young man expects the same consequences as those of the death of Zyed and Bouna in 2005: “Everyone will stop talking about it, and the policeman will come out, but they’re not going to say it by playing on his personal safety.”
Mohamed did not take part in the riots which led to the partial destruction of shops, schools and the town hall, but he believes that this is the only way for the youth of working-class neighborhoods to be heard.
The young people in the neighborhoods did not start the violence. It was the police who killed, the young people just followed. They didn’t kill anyone, but they can’t stay silent either.
Mohamed Adam
Resident of the Roseraie district in Angers
“Young people needed to revolt, to make them feel that they exist and to denounce that they have experienced things from the police on their scale”, confirms another 26-year-old resident, who wished to remain anonymous.
“Their way of translating this anger is the only way today. They have no other means of making themselves heard. Especially since they are young people, they are not adults who are going to demonstrate like Back home, most young adults have a bit of a conscience and aren’t out there breaking or doing things that don’t make sense.”he continues.
The acts committed during the riots can indeed cause incomprehension, because the destroyed buildings are often within the districts, and the burnt cars belong to the neighbors. “It’s anger that wins. They don’t think of anyone, but they don’t mean anyone any harm either”says the 26-year-old man.
Fabrice Diffallah is a socio-sports educator and karate teacher. He has been working in a Roseraie dojo for 26 years. The local young people, he knows them all. “It was latent, the fact that the youngster was shot, it set everything ablazehe confides. There is such a feeling of powerlessness, of ignorance. It’s only been a while, how can they express themselves?”
“Most do not necessarily have a political conscience. Of course they should express their anger elsewhere. We have seen it in other demonstrations where symbols have been destroyed”adds the educator.
He does not support the invectives uttered against the parents of the young rioters: “It pisses me off. It feels like the neighborhood parents aren’t capable, when they’re doing what they can with what they have, what they are.”
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Fabrice Diffallah opposes the argument of “resigning parents”. • ©France Télévisions / Marion Naumann / Jérémy Armand
The educator considers it to be “Intolerable to put the responsibility on the parent. For me, it is a problem of republican management and equality in the territories. It has nothing to do with the education of the parent”.
“Besides, when someone who is better off, or from another neighborhood, crushes someone or behaves badly, there is no questioning of their education. right on it”he points out.
This difference in treatment is omnipresent in the speeches of the three men. “If I go out, I go 10 meters, I get checked. It’s real, testifies Mohamed Adam. Sir [un homme blanc, ndlr], he can prowl all day, make ten round trips in front of the police station, they won’t even look at him. Now I see them pass in front of me, I stop. I know they’re going down.”
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Mohamed shares the feeling of insecurity he feels due to unequal treatment and the behavior of the police. • ©France Télévisions / Marion Naumann / Jérémy Armand
The feeling he feels today? Neither anger nor weariness, but “insecurity” in the face of raids by violent far-right groups on the streets, and in the face of the lack of protection and the stigmatization of the inhabitants of working-class neighborhoods by the police.
READ ALSO. Riots after Nahel’s death in Nanterre. Clashes between a far-right group and hooded young people in Angers
Mohamed believes that Nahel’s death is another stroke of the penknife in the contract which worsens trust between young people and police.
“Driving without a license, everyone does it, even outside the neighborhoods, he advances. If a young person gets in a car and tries, but, out of luck, the police are there, do you think he’s going to stop with everything that happened? I already know the answer, he’s not going to stop because he’s going to be afraid of getting shot. It’ll start a chase, which may also lead to gunfire. We’ve gone on a loop, and I don’t know how we can stop it.”
“This is the state of mind in which our children of the Republic who live in the neighborhoods are”deplores Fabrice Diffallah, who also recalls the eternal need to improve education for all young people in the neighborhoods.
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Current schooling in working-class neighborhoods only allows a few young people to integrate. • ©France Télévisions / Marion Naumann / Jérémy Armand
“The financial distribution is not egalitarian, young people are crowded into schools, he complains. We must allow young people to have a school education that promotes the success of all our young people, and not just a few who have the ability to go to the big schools, and to finance them. Schooling is a bit of a funnel when you live in working-class neighborhoods.”
In 2022, one in five schoolchildren and middle school students were educated in an establishment belonging to the priority education network. In 2021, only environ 30% of these middle school students obtained a grade above 10 out of 20 on the patent. A failure at school that encounters few solutions and very often jeopardizes professional integration.
Testimonies collected by Marion Naumann and Jérémy Armand
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