On June 27th at around 8pm police stopped the car of Nahel M, a
17-year-old. Thanks to a video taken at the scene, we know the truthabout what followed. One cop said "You are going to get shot in thehead." Another shouted out "Shoot him." Nahel then attempted to escapeand was shot at point blank range. This was a summary execution and hadnothing to do with a refusal to comply as the mainstream media made out.A cop arriving at the scene later told a woman to "go back to Africa."---- This is the thirteenth murder carried out by the police since thestart of the year. Only five cops out of the thirteen responsible havebeen indicted, the others were released without further prosecution.This shows the impunity that the French police have. It was strengthenedby the 2017 law that allowed cops to use their weapons as they pleased.The cop who killed Nahel knew that he could do what he liked. As amember of an institution that terrorises the populations in thebanlieues (the suburbs of major towns where many ethnic minorities live)both day and night he believed he had carte blanche to shoot down youngmen. Witness the police unions who congratulated him for having killedNahel.The State murders go back a long way. We should remember the policekilling of 6 Algerian and one French demonstrator on July 14, 1953 atPlace de la Nation in Paris, the State lynchings of Algeriandemonstrators in Paris on October 17th 1961, where up to 300 died andmany police murders over the last forty years.The Macron government immediately called for calm, whilst mobilisingthousands of cops and gendarmes. On the night of Nahel's murder, riotsbroke out in Nanterre and other banlieues, Mantes-la-Jolie,Boulogne-Billancourt, Clichy-sous-Bois, Colombes, Asnières, Montfermeil,and across France at Roubaix, Lille, and Bordeaux. The following day theunrest spread to Neuilly sur Marne, Clamart, Wattrelos, Bagnolet,Montreuil, Saint Denis, Dammarie les Lys, Toulouse, and Marseille. Amarch was organised for June 29th at Nanterre.The Macron government was now panicking and stated that they wereopening an investigation as to whether the cop had committed "voluntarymanslaughter." This did not deter many from attending the demonstrationwhere 15,000 turned out. When this peaceful demonstration arrived at theNanterre Préfecture (regional seat of government) the police fired teargas at the crowd. This triggered further riots which spread throughParis and through many towns in France.Angry youth set fire to local and national police stations, prefectures,and town halls. Supermarkets were looted. In the end 10 shopping malls,more than 200 supermarkets, 250 tobacco shops and 250 bank outlets wereattacked or looted on one night.Rioting has continued for six consecutive nights from the 27th of June.The Macron government mobilised 45,000 cops and gendarmes and armedvehicles and there have been more than 3,200 arrests.On 1st July rioting spread to French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland.In Lausanne in Switzerland, a hundred youths gathered and attacked thepolice with Molotov cocktails. Unrest also broke out in the capital ofBelgium, Brussels.In order to head off the unrest, the cop was arrested, charged withmurder, and placed in pre-trial detention. Whether this ends the unrestis unlikely.What is happening in France reflects the wave of unrest in the USA afterthe police murder of George Floyd in 2020 and opens up a debate aboutthe nature of the police. This increasingly militarised institution isdeeply racist and many cops are members of far-right groups. As in theUSA, the call for the abolition of the police is being raised.The far-right are also using this insurgence to tout their own role asauxiliary defenders of the state, organising patrols and pumping outanti-immigrant rhetoric, describing the riots as the product ofmulti-culturalism and Islamisation of banlieue youth.Coupled with the mass mobilisations around pension reforms and thebanning of Earth Uprisings, the riots show the increasingly radicalisedsituation in France, where the possibilities of social revolution arebecoming more acute. The Union Communiste Libertaire have taken thefollowing immediate positions:- assistance in the spreading of anti-repression and security practicesamongst the demonstrators, whatever tactic they use in the streets- assistance spreading safety and street-medic practices- the bringing of 'critical support' to the revolt- the denouncing of systematic racism and police brutality- pushing for a self-organised political strike against police brutalityand racism- the building of bridges with the other parts of the populationbringing the marginalised white working class (subject of the YellowVest uprising) together with the non-white working class youth of theghetto (subject of this uprising)- promoting collective self-defence against the fascists and the attacksfrom the cops.- advocacy of disarming the police and disbanding the most repressivedaily units such anti-crime brigades and anti-riot quick brigades (unitson bikes, used against social movements).- in unitary texts, we try to work with other forces, by calling for thewithdrawal of recent pro-cop reforms, calling for the dismissal of theMinister of Interior, creating institutional counter-powers to policeracism, extending the issue to social and economic inequalities, and thelack of public services.- given the state of the discussions within the left, we will maintainour own expression to offer a more radical point of view than just"reforming" the policeIf the revolt is to be anything more than a momentary explosion ofrighteous anger, it will need to develop insurgent links, to broaden theuprising into organised revolutionary struggle - a class struggleagainst the entirety of the capitalist system of misery, oppression andexploitation. This will be a hard fight against not just the obviousagents of repression and their fascist side-kicks, but against those whowish to "democratise" the misery through gestures, meaningless reformsand attempts to use 'spokespersons' and community 'leaders', secular andreligious, to ultimately defend the status quo.https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2023/07/04/nights-of-insurrection-in-france/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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