The unrest in France can already be called a civil war. After just under a week, the Russian news agency TASS has drawn an interim balance as of Sunday evening, which I have translated.
Start of translation:
Thousands arrested, first sentences pronounced: The riots in France now continue for the sixth day.
The first participants in the pogroms in France have been sentenced to prison for attempted looting. More than 3,000 people have already been arrested.
The riots began after a 17-year-old Algerian driver was shot dead by a police officer in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on June 27 after refusing to comply with a traffic stop. The police officer who shot the teenager has been arrested.
Mass protests are already taking place across France. Up to 45,000 police and gendarmes have been mobilized to maintain order.
French President Emmanuel Macron was forced to postpone a state visit to Germany planned for July 2-4. He is holding a meeting Sunday evening at the Elysee Palace to control the riots.
Thousands arrested.
Television station BFM counted 31 arrests on Wednesday night, 182 on Thursday, 875 on Friday and 1,311 on Saturday. Radio France Info reported that 719 people were arrested on Sunday evening. This means that the total number of people arrested has already exceeded 3,100.
Earlier, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanen pointed out that a large proportion of those arrested were under the age of 18.
The biggest riots in recent days took place in Marseille, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Toulouse, Bordeaux, as well as in the Paris suburbs, especially Saint-Denis. One of the most serious incidents was the use of firearms against police officers in Lyon on Saturday night. At least four police officers were injured.
Drones and armored personnel carriers.
Authorities are moving two armored personnel carriers of the National Gendarmerie to Marseille to quell the riots. In addition, soldiers from the 8th Company of Republican Security (CRS 8), which specializes in fighting street crime, are on their way to Lyon.
Authorities in ten municipalities in northern France have imposed curfews. These include Lille, Denan, Croix and Roubaix.
According to police prefect Laurent Nunez, Paris authorities now have enough resources to quell the riots without imposing a state of emergency and curfew in the French capital. However, police have been authorized to use drones to monitor order in the capital and neighboring departments in the coming night.
Attacks on mayor.
The mayor of the Paris suburb of L'Aix-les-Roses was the target of the most serious attack in recent days. On Sunday night, unknown persons first tried to ram down the wall of the house where his family was staying and then set fire to the house with fireworks. The mayor's wife and one of his two children were injured. The woman was taken to the hospital
A criminal case for attempted murder has been opened because of the attack. Police are searching for the perpetrators, but there are no reports of the arrest of any of the suspects yet.
Another incident occurred in the commune of La Riche (Centre - Loire Valley region). Several perpetrators entered the mayor's property and tried to set fire to his official vehicle.
In response, the Association of French Mayors called for rallies across the country on Monday against the street riots and to support the municipal authorities. French Prime Minister Elisabeth Born called for the harshest punishment for those involved in the attack on municipal officials.
First sentences.
The court in Grenoble, in southeastern France, handed down the first sentences for involvement in the riots. Specifically, three people were sentenced to prison terms of between three and four months for attempted looting during the street riots.
Later, some 30 people will stand trial in Grenoble, most of whom were arrested for looting on Saturday night.
French Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti has warned French families that parents will be held criminally responsible if their underage children were involved in the riots.
More than 200 stores smashed.
According to Bruno Le Maire, the republic's minister for the economy, finance, industry and digital sovereignty, rioters destroyed and looted more than 200 supermarkets and 10 shopping centers.
They also destroyed and looted 250 tobacco stores, as well as numerous bank and insurance offices, clothing and sporting goods stores, and fast-food outlets.
Business owners who were affected by the riots will receive a deferral of tax and social security payments, Le Maire said.
Cancellations and auras of the French national team.
The soccer players of the French national team have issued a collective appeal calling for an end to the riots and violence in the streets of French cities.
They recalled that many of the athletes themselves come from so-called working-class neighborhoods and therefore share the pain and sadness of their residents. However, they pointed out that people in their own cities were destroying public property and called for "calm and a sense of responsibility ".
Fashion house Celine, part of the LVMH holding company, canceled the presentation of its spring/summer 2024 menswear collection scheduled for July 2 in Paris.
Funeral of the teenager.
The 17-year-old's funeral took place June 1 in Nanterre. According to media reports, a large number of people attended the farewell.
Later, the grandmother of the murdered man called on rioters to stop the violence. She also spoke out against attacks on police officers, adding that French justice would have the final say.
Reactions of other countries.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the German government was following the events in France with concern, but there were no signs that such unrest was possible in Germany. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crozetto also described the situation in the neighboring country as alarming and expressed hope for an early end to the events.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed concern about the growing anti-Semitic sentiment in France, which is manifested in the riots.
At the same time, commenting on the UN's call to combat racism in French law enforcement, the prefect of the Paris police, Laurent Nunez, said there was none in the French police.
For his part, Polish head of government Mateusz Morawiecki said that the pogroms in France showed the consequences of the European Union's uncontrolled migration policy.
Riots in Switzerland.
More than a hundred youths rioted in Lausanne on Sunday night, smashing the windows of several stores. Seven people, including six minors, were arrested, according to the city police.
On the night of June 30, there were also riots in Brussels. The situation was most tense in the area of Annessens and the South Station. There, fires were set, cars were set on fire and passageways were blocked. 47 minors and 16 adults were arrested.
End of translation.
https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/2023/frankreich-im-chaos-ueber-3-000-menschen-verhaftet-hunderte-geschaefte-zerstoert/
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