Monday, July 03, 2023

French riots now personally targeting politicians

Headline:

French Rioters Are Now Attempting to Assassinate Politicians

More than 700 people were arrested and 45,000 police officers deployed on Saturday evening as rioting continued in France for the fifth straight night following the death of migrant-background teen ‘Nahel’ at the hands of police. Around 45 police officers and gendarmes were injured, while 74 buildings, 26 police and gendarmes stations, and 577 vehicles were set on fire in the worst civil unrest in the European nation in decades.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, however, hailed the evening as a “calmer night thanks to the resolute action of the security forces” compared to Friday evening, which witnessed around 1,300 arrests. The violence has spread throughout the country, reaching central Paris, Marseille, Nice, and Strasbourg.

Former Deputy in the National Legislative Assembly of France, and niece of populist leader Marine Le Pen, Marion Marechal, said announced on Twitter on Sunday morning:

“In response to the [#riots], the government is preparing to once again rain billions of euros on the suburbs. The waste of our taxes must stop, the solution is in the end of immigration, not in renovation or subsidies!”

Vincent Jeanburn, Mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses – a small town five miles outside Paris – had a car rammed into his house before rioters set the home ablaze as his wife and children slept. He described the attack as “an assassination attempt,” with his wife and one of his children sustaining injuries. “Last night, a milestone was reached in terms of horror and ignominy,” said Jeanbrun in an announcement on Twitter.

I don't think this was "an assassination attempt" in the classic sense of a sniper patiently waiting for his target, but the rioters probably knew whose house they were hitting, so there was some measure of intentionality behind the residential attack and, obviously, no concern for the lives of family members. I wonder how much worse this will all get before things get better. L'Haÿ-les-Roses is described as "a small town," meaning the rioting is spreading out beyond the cities. And I wouldn't consider the French in general to be "an armed citizenry"—quite unlike the Swiss. I expect any rioting to be put down fairly quickly in Switzerland, either by the authorities or by the citizens themselves. I don't know how much Switzerland has been eroded by wokeness, but the country I lived in for a year had a fairly strong xenophobic streak back in the day.  Whether xenophobia is a good or bad thing may depend on the times. Right about now, I'd like to think that both the French and the Swiss are rethinking whether to be proud of their cultures, and whether to consider those cultures worth preserving.



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