Emmanuel Macron cracks down on French police after teenager’s death

French President Emmanuel Macron visited a Paris police station on Tuesday night to thank officers deployed to quell riots sparked by the fatal shooting of a teenager. But if he had hoped the trip would ease recent tensions with law enforcement, he may have been disappointed.

Several police officers were unhappy that shortly after the shooting, which was captured in a video that went viral, Macron called the teen’s death “inexplicable and inexcusable”, as an official investigation was still underway.

“The police have completely lost confidence in the president today,” Grégory Jouron, head of the Force Overiere, the second largest labor union in the police, said in an interview. “They destroyed the ability of the justice system to operate independently.”

The focus on the death of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk was a risky move for Macron: the police are one of the most powerful institutions in France and he needed it to quell the outbursts of anger in the streets.

However, the police themselves have taken an even more extreme position than before. Two of their biggest unions put out an incendiary statement this week saying tough action was needed to fight the rioting “wild hordes” and “pests”.

“Today the police are at war because we are at war,” he said, repeating statements from far-right parties.

Criticizing law enforcement has long been taboo for much of the political class because of the role they have played in responding to multiple terrorist attacks since 2015, as well as other periods of social upheaval. During Macron’s tenure, these included particularly anti-government Gillette’s Jones protest movement.

His government has expanded police powers, including increasing the use of drones and surveillance cameras and allowing closer surveillance of mosques suspected of harboring radical Islamists.

A government official said, “The president has always been supportive of law enforcement.” He said that the police budget has also increased.

Yet left-wing politicians, activist groups and organizations such as the Council of Europe have questioned French policing tactics and culture.

During protests against Macron’s pension reform earlier this year, a U.N. Officer urged French police to avoid excessive use of force, and human rights watchdog of the european union criticized the action.

To disperse crowds and control protests, French police rely on tear gas, stun grenades and so-called LBD guns, which fire rubber bullets — tactics that critics call heavy-handed.

The police received another round of criticism following the death of Merzouk, of North African descent.

“This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement,” Raveena Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN human rights office, told a briefing in Geneva on Friday.

Recent debate has also centered on a 2017 law that detailed the circumstances under which traffic police can use deadly force to shoot at fleeing motorists. Police unions had long lobbied for the change, but at the time the Defender of Rights, an independent governing body, warned that it would make the rules more confusing.

The left-wing Nuppes coalition in the French parliament has called for the immediate repeal of the law, which it accuses police of interpreting as a “license to kill”.

For the time being, it does not appear that such a policy response is forthcoming.

Macron’s government has described the killing of Merzouk, who prosecutors say was driving without a license and had committed a traffic violation, as an isolated incident with no racial element.

However, in a rare move, the officer involved in the shooting is in pre-trial custody and preliminary charges have been filed against him for voluntary manslaughter.

Many Black and Arab youth who live in low-income suburbs Sanctions, Says they face discrimination by the police. one 2017 reports found that youth from minority backgrounds were 20 times more likely to be stopped for an identity check than the rest of the population.

However, public support for the police is not waning. Recent polling from the region shows 71 percent say they trust the police, although support among youth and the left is much lower.

The effect of a 2017 law expanding the use of deadly force by traffic police has been disputed: publicly available data on shootings is scarce, as police do not disclose it and academics have been refused access to the information.

The government official claimed that there has been no “significant change in the number of shots fired” by police on moving cars since the reform. According to the official, 13 people were killed in such police firing on motorists last year, a record in a country where police shootings are rare. There have been three so far this year, including Merzouk.

But there have been six times more fatal police shootings of drivers in the five years since the 2017 reform than in the previous five years, according to data compiled and analyzed by Sebastian Roche, a sociologist specializing in police practices.

“The law is the major problem, so the solution is to change it,” Roche said. “My conclusion is that the legal change caused the increase—we controlled for other factors (including) the murder rate, and compared it to other countries.”

Police unions say the 2017 law needs discretion and clarity from officers. Instead he has called for more firearms training, a weakness that government auditors have already identified.

He also protested that the work of police officers has become more difficult. According to government data analyzed by Le Monde that year, attacks against police are set to double in the two decades to 2021.

According to the interior minister, 808 officers have been injured in clashes with protesters and rioters since Merzouk was killed. In banlieuePeople used the familiar tactic of firing fireworks at the police, while 269 police stations were attacked.

Some officers have received threats, including threats against their family members. “It is very disturbing. , , (and) it is getting worse now,” said Thierry Clair, secretary general of the police union UNSA.

Union officials argued that police had worked tirelessly in difficult conditions last week to restore order as protests over Merzouk’s death turned into riots, looting and violent attacks against public buildings and officers.

In the fraught atmosphere, they feel that Macron should not let them down. Joron said, “We don’t expect him to support us, just not let us down.”

Additional reporting by Ian Johnson