In addition to the 27-year-old man’s death, another man was seriously injured at a gas station this week, says De Vries. «He was hit by a beanbag, small bags with balls, which the French police shoot during the riots. However, according to De Vries, these incidents have not yet led to new riots in France.
According to De Vries, yesterday evening went smoothly in Marseille. “In the last few days we have seen many marches in memory of the victims of police brutality,” he says. “In the end, no white march took place in Marseilles last night. There were too few people.”
However, the French police are under fire. According to De Vries, there must be an ‘adequate investigation’. «The justice has dealt with the case and the police officer (suspected of manslaughter after shooting Nahel, 17, ed) is still in custody. This shows that the government takes the matter very seriously and that the police will not get away with violence. The emphasis is now also on reparation and faster punishments and harsher actions.’
However, the real problem is deeper and, according to De Vries, requires a structural approach. “The whole of French society needs to be radically reformed,” he says. “You really see a rift in French society. There are no easy answers or quick fixes. Everyone knows that these riots were not accidents and could flare up again at any time.”