France Riots: Macron Calls for Return to Authority

Facts

• French Pres. Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the country needs to restore order and authority "at every level, firstly in the family," after riots over the police shooting of a teenager of North African descent rocked the country's suburbs last month.¹
• Though the unrest — reportedly rooted in unresolved tensions over controversial policing practices — quickly subsided, some 4K people, including many minors with no criminal records, were arrested.²
• Macron appeared to suggest that fragile family settings — including single-parent families and families on child support benefits — and social media were responsible for children as young as 16 taking to the streets against police for six nights.³
• While he acknowledged the state's role in events, particularly when considering children from unstable households, Macron stressed the need for parents to establish authority at home and "reinvest massively in our youth to give them structure."⁴
• 17-year-old Nahel M., a French citizen of Algerian and Moroccan descent who was raised by his mother in Nanterre, was shot dead at point-blank range by a police officer on June 27.⁵
• His death provoked raging debate about law and order, immigration, racism, and police brutality, even prompting Macron to warn that the riots had brought out a risk "of deep division of the nation."⁶

Sources: ¹POLITICO, ²New York Times (a), ³Guardian, ⁴The Telegraph, ⁵New York Times (b), and ⁶Le Monde.fr.

Narratives

• Right narrative, as provided by European Conservative. It's certain that Macron intended to deliver a positive message to an increasingly right-wing public on issues of immigration and security, but using such a conciliatory tone at such a troubled moment may indicate that he is only concerned about maintaining order in the short term. After all, his speech was merely more of the same rhetorical pacification that lacked any significant announcements about how causes of the unrest would be addressed.
• Left narrative, as provided by The Nation. Macron has once again bowed to pressure from the far-right. Instead of standing up to right-wing sentiment he has, implicitly, given a blank slate to such groups and legitimized some of their focus on cultural issues, particularly immigration and anti-Muslim sentiment. It's outrageous that the president has spoken out against teenagers protesting an unjust police killing while he remains silent over rising far-right violence across the country.

Predictions