One year ago today, a 17-year-old called Nahel Merzouk was fatally shot by a policeman as he sped away from a vehicle checkpoint in western Paris.
What followed shocked France. Days of rioting, looting and burning across the country. Not just in the inner cities but in provincial towns such as Montargis in central France, where a mob vandalised the town hall and pillaged scores of shops. ‘I still have people who almost a year later don’t want to come back to the centre because of the riots,’ said one shopkeeper this week. ‘They’ve been apprehensive ever since, traumatised, even though we’re a fairly quiet town.’
For millions of French people the riots were more disturbing evidence of the parallel society that has emerged this century
The people of Montargis voted overwhelmingly for Jordan Bardella in the recent European elections. The president of the National Rally received 30 per cent of the vote, more than twice that of Macron’s candidate, in second place.
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