Macron’s France is trapped in a cycle of violence

On Monday, the spokesman for Emmanuel Macron’s government, Olivier Véran, visited the village of Crépol in south-eastern France. A fortnight ago few people had heard of Crépol, but on the evening of Saturday 18 November a gang of youths from an inner city a few miles away gatecrashed the village dance.  

In the maelstrom of violence that ensued, a 16-year-old local called Thomas was fatally stabbed. Several other young partygoers were wounded and one eye-witness told reporters their attackers had stormed the venue vowing to ‘kill a white’.  

For 24 hours there was barely a murmur from the government. Much of the mainstream media didn’t report the comment and the local authorities refused to release the names of the young men quickly arrested. Eventually they leaked out: all appear to be of North African origin.  

The reaction of some far-right extremists, possibly inspired by what had unfolded in Dublin on Thursday evening, was to organise a show of strength in the inner city where most of the suspects are from. Around 100 masked men showed up in Romans-sur-Isère on Saturday afternoon, some carrying weapons, all looking for trouble. They reportedly came from across France, drawn south to avenge the death of Thomas.

There were several arrests and on Monday six men were sentenced to between six and ten months for their participation in the unrest, including assaulting a police officer. The swiftness of the trial and the severity of the sentences is clearly intended to act as a deterrent in this febrile time. But it may have the opposite effect. Last week there was outrage when a teenage joyrider, who had run over a policeman in Nantes and dragged him along a road for 20 metres, causing him serious injuries, was sentenced to 35 hours community service.   

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There has been a feeling for a number of years in France, most acutely among the police, that a combination of weak politicians and weak judges has resulted in a breakdown in law and order. That is why Olivier Véran was not made to feel welcome in Crépol. ‘Have you no shame?!’ shouted one man as the minister emerged from his car. Another yelled ‘Go and visit the cemetery of Chalon’, where Thomas was laid to rest last Friday. 

After Véran met the family of Thomas, he spoke eloquently and honestly to reporters, admitting his death ‘is a tragedy that runs the risk of tipping our society over the edge if we don’t rise to the challenge’. He promised that the ‘French people can count on a strong state, on unshakeable institutions, to protect them and to dispense justice’. 

The bitter truth is that few people in France have any confidence left in Macron and his government. Eloquence and honesty are not enough; action is needed, urgently, to prevent further tit-for-tat violence. But this is a president who has ignored repeated warnings about the ‘lost territories of the Republic’. In 2018, Gérard Collomb resigned as Minister of the Interior with a [10] warning that, if Macron didn’t address the lawlessness in some inner cities, ‘today we live side by side, but I fear that tomorrow we could be living face to face’. 

Macron kept his head in the sand. In 2021, a similarly bleak message was expressed in a letter signed by dozens of retired senior military officers. The government angrily dismissed the claims and attacked the integrity of the signatories. 

Last week’s violence in Dublin, as despicable as it was, may be a significant moment for Europe. This century, there has been an institutional indifference among western European governments towards mass immigration. Despite opinion polls repeatedly revealing that electorates believe there is too much of it, presidents, prime minister and chancellors always ignore such findings, preferring to parrot condescending platitudes such as ‘Diversity is our Strength’ and ‘Vivre Ensemble’ [Live together].  

Europeans have tried to register their opposition at the ballot box, be it Brexit or the election of Giorgia Meloni, but nothing changes. On the contrary, the number of legal and illegal migrants keeps growing. So, too, do the outrages, such as the murder of 16-year-old Thomas in Crépol and the killing of 21-year-old Thomas Roberts, murdered in Bournemouth by an Afghan asylum seeker who fled to Britain after killing two men in Serbia. 

There was more violence in France over the weekend. In Dijon, a 55-year-old man was killed in his home by a stray bullet, fired during a shootout among drug dealers. In Nice, two people were wounded by gunfire, also thought to be the result of a turf war between dealers.  

Something else happened at the weekend: Gérard Collomb died of cancer. The symbolism of his passing was not lost on the media, as if he had taken leave of his country at the moment when his worst fears were being realised. ‘He was clear-sighted and disillusioned about the evolution of society and the need for a policy of authority and more assertive defence of the pillars of republicanism,’ wrote Le Figaro of his death. 

Yesterday, Oliver Véran promised that the Republic will show this authority and strength in response to what Macron recently called the ‘decivilisation’ of France. This may be its last chance. If it fails then what Veran predicted will come to pass, and France will tip over the edge into a very violent conflict.