Arthur de Laborde / Photo credit: Gauthier Bedrignans / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
Two days after the death of Nahel, 17, killed by a police officer after refusing to comply, the violence continued overnight from Wednesday to Thursday in several cities. A situation that causes concern at the top of the state: this Thursday morning, Emmanuel Macron convened an interministerial crisis unit, and the executive is preparing for possible violence in the days to come.
Emmanuel Macron convenes this Thursday morning in Beauvau an interministerial crisis unit. The objective is simple: to try to restore calm, after the death of Nahel, 17, killed by a police officer after refusing to comply. Since then, violence has broken out in several cities, all over France. Wednesday evening, 2,000 police had been mobilized and that was not enough to contain the violence. The concern seems great at the top of the state.
Risk of tipping “from indignation to revenge”
Emmanuel Macron himself is following the situation very closely. He asked his Minister of the Interior to do everything to avoid contagion in the suburbs. According to our information, early Wednesday afternoon, Gérald Darmanin brought together all the prefects of France by videoconference. He asked them that the maximum number of members of the security forces be deployed on the ground.
“It’s going to blow up, we know it”
The tenant of Place Beauvau then organized a meeting with territorial intelligence officials to anticipate what could happen in the coming days. The services notably alerted him to the demonstration scheduled for today at 2 p.m. in front of the Nanterre prefecture, pointing to a risk of tipping “from indignation to revenge”. Intelligence also fears a convergence of struggles between the cities and the ultra-left.
“It’s going to blow up, we know it. The only question is how long it will last”, explains an official from the Ministry of the Interior, who specifies that the possibility of decreeing a state of emergency if the situation degenerates is already under study.