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France
Jul 9, 2023 17:09:12 GMT
Post by Admin on Jul 9, 2023 17:09:12 GMT
French cities have been rocked by violent protests in recent days. Here's what you need to know about transport and curfews. Days of riots across France have left some holidaymakers feeling unsure about their upcoming trips to the country. Since the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk during a police traffic stop on 27 June, Paris and other major cities have seen nightly, violent protests. It appears that the most serious unrest is over, after 850 people were arrested last weekend (1 and 2 July). Nahel’s death has sparked long-simmering anger about policing and racial profiling in France's low-income and multi-ethnic suburbs. A record 13 people were killed during police traffic stops last year, the majority of the victims of black or Arab origin. France announces discounted summer train fares. Here's where you can go and when. 'Like in the days of COVID': France's summer season off to a rocky start amidst rioting In Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Grenoble, Lille and Toulouse, recent demonstrations have spilled over into violence. There were heavy clashes with police, cars set alight and shops looted. But there have not been any more incidents since early this week. If you’re planning on travelling to France, here’s what you need to know. Are riots still happening in France? Around 17 million UK citizens visit France every year, the vast majority soaking up the old country’s culture and sunny coastlines without incident. The UK government’s advice to holidaymakers as of 30 June remains current. “Locations and timing of riots are unpredictable,” it warns. “You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place, check the latest advice with operators when travelling and follow the advice of the authorities.” There may be disruptions to road travel and local transport options may be reduced, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) adds. While some local authorities may impose curfews. Buses and trams have been stopping at 9pm or 10pm, to prevent them from being targeted by protesters. Trains are expected to continue running as normal, as is Paris’s metro system. The German Foreign Office also updated its travel and security advice this weekend, urging holidaymakers to stay informed and avoid areas where violent riots have been taking place. It follows a security alert from the US state department last week, likewise urging its citizens to avoid trouble hotspots.
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France
Jul 9, 2023 20:07:47 GMT
Post by Admin on Jul 9, 2023 20:07:47 GMT
Dozens of marches against police violence in France have been announced for Saturday after authorities banned a memorial rally, fearful of reigniting the recent unrest that engulfed the country. Seven years after Adama Traore, a young black man, died in police custody, his sister had planned to lead a commemorative march north of Paris in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise. However, with tensions still high following the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel, of Algerian origin, at a traffic stop last week, a court ruled the chance of public disturbance was too high to allow the march to proceed. In a video posted on Twitter, Assa Traore, Adama's older sister, confirmed that following the court order "there will be no march in Beaumont-sur-Oise". "The government has decided to add fuel to the fire" and "not to respect the death of my little brother", she said in the video. Instead of the planned event, she said she would attend a rally on Saturday afternoon in central Paris' Place de la Republique to tell "the whole world that our dead have the right to exist, even in death". However, this "march for justice" will also be banned, according to the Paris police headquarters. READ ALSO: France bans weekend march over riot fears Around 30 similar demonstrations against police violence are planned across France this weekend, according to an online map, including in the cities of Lille, Marseille, Nantes and Strasbourg. Grief and anger Several trade unions, political parties and associations had called on supporters to join the memorial march for Traore this year as France reels from allegations of institutionalised racism in its police ranks following the police shooting of Nahel M. Traore, who was 24 years old, died shortly after his arrest in 2016, sparking several nights of unrest that played out similarly to the week-long rioting that erupted across the country in the wake of the point-blank shooting of Nahel during a traffic stop. The teenager's death on June 27 rekindled long-standing accusations of systemic racism among security forces, and a UN committee has called on France to ban racial profiling. The foreign ministry on Saturday disputed what it called "excessive" and "unfounded" remarks by the panel. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) - 18 independent experts - on Friday asked France to pass legislation defining and banning racial profiling and questioned "excessive use of force by law enforcement". The CERD said it was concerned by "the persistent practice of racial profiling combined with the excessive use of force in the application of the law, in particular by the police, against members of minority groups, notably people of African and Arab origin". "Any ethnic profiling by law enforcement is banned in France," the ministry responded, adding that "the struggle against excesses in racial profiling has intensified". The communique also voiced "incomprehension at the absence of solidarity and compassion for elected representatives... who were attacked ... as well as for the 800 police, gendarmes and firemen injured", in CERD's comments. Far-right parties have linked the most intense and widespread riots France has seen since 2005 to mass migration, and have demanded curbs on new arrivals. READ ALSO: OPINION: Riots could become France's most dangerous crisis in decades Campaign groups say Saturday's "citizens marches" will be an opportunity for people to express their "grief and anger" at discriminatory police policies, especially in working-class neighbourhoods. They are urging reforms to the police, including policing tactics and the force's weaponry. Government spokesman Olivier Veran criticised the organisations for convening demonstrations "in major cities that have not yet recovered from the rampages". More than 3,700 people have been taken into police custody in connection with the protests since Nahel's death, including at least 1,160 minors, according to official figures.
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France
Jul 10, 2023 8:50:13 GMT
Post by Admin on Jul 10, 2023 8:50:13 GMT
France has banned the sale, possession and transport of all fireworks during the upcoming Bastille Day festivities. The government issued a decree on Sunday prohibiting "pyrotechnic articles" for the 14 July celebrations that mark France's national day. The move comes after rioting sparked by last month's police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M by police in Nanterre. However, the ban does not apply to official firework displays organised by local authorities. "In order to prevent the risk of serious disturbances to public order during the 14 July festivities, the sale, carrying, transport and use of pyrotechnic articles and fireworks will be prohibited on national territory until 15 July inclusively," said the edict, published in the French official gazette. Fireworks were a popular weapon during the week of unrest, which included some of France's worst urban violence for almost 20 years. And even in normal times, events in public squares and streets on the evening of Bastille Day have often been disrupted in previous years by young people throwing firecrackers. Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said that in addition to the restrictions on fireworks, a "massive" security presence would be deployed in order to keep the peace and "to protect the French during these two sensitive days". She told Le Parisien newspaper that many people were "quite worried" about the possibility of fresh incidents of violence during the national holiday. Can France prevent tensions igniting again? More than 3,700 people were taken into police custody in connection with the recent protests, including at least 1,160 minors, according to official figures. Bastille Day marks the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris more than 200 years ago, a key event in the French Revolution.
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France
Jul 12, 2023 21:28:59 GMT
Post by Admin on Jul 12, 2023 21:28:59 GMT
Riots happen for myriad reasons, but often they’re ignited by a single incident. Last week, a policeman shot and killed a 17-year-old French boy of North African descent at a traffic light in a Parisian suburb. Riots broke out throughout the country and continued through the weekend, resulting in the mobilization of 45,000 police and the arrest of thousands of protesters. On Friday, a spokesperson for a union representing over half of all police officers issued a statement that they were “at war” against “vermin.” The interior minister has promised the police “unwavering support,” and French President Emmanuel Macron has blamed video games for protesters’ violent unrest.
Initially, the French media cited anonymous police sources claiming the young driver, Nahel Merzouk, was shot when he tried to plough into a group of officers. Bystander footage later revealed the vehicle was stopped at a traffic light and one of the officers was pointing a gun through the window of the driver’s side. As the car began pulling away, one of the policemen fired a shot directly at Merzouk, who then crashed into a sidewalk. He died an hour later. The policeman who shot him has been charged with voluntary homicide.
For those who live in the French suburbs, run-ins with heavily armed cops are not uncommon. To understand why, it is important to note that the word “suburb” in French does not suggest leafy communities of middle-class apartments in beautiful Haussmann buildings surrounded by cafés and restaurants. The banlieues, as they are known, are mostly assortments of block residential towers deliberately separated from commerce and public transportation. The neighborhoods suffer from high unemployment, low economic mobility, and social exclusion.
Police in the banlieues need no excuse to stop anyone on the street; a simple demand of “show me your papers” is enough. In 2021, six nongovernmental organizations filed a class action lawsuit against the French government claiming the police have engaged in widespread racial profiling. One of the victims in the report said he experienced racial profiling since he was 16, “sometimes up to three times a day” and that on one occasion a cop “put me violently up against the wall. One of the officers touches my private parts. Then he hits me in the stomach and calls me a ‘dirty Arab.’”
Although accounts of discrimination at the hands of the police are widespread, proving it is an entirely different matter. That is because the French government has explicitly outlawed keeping any statistics on race. This means ethnic minorities can claim mistreatment all they want, but without any statistical evidence their claims fall on deaf ears. It is, in effect, the national policy of France to pretend that racism doesn’t exist within its boundaries.
The law against statistics on race dates to the 1970s and has origins in the Holocaust. Defenders of the law claim the Nazis were able to round up Jews because the French government kept records on faith and ethnicity. Another reason, and perhaps the most deeply rooted, is the French ideal of universalism—the notion that one’s identity as a French citizen transcends race, gender, and religion. In Macron’s words: “‘Many’ doesn’t mean we’re an agglomerate of communities. It means we’re a national community.” This adherence to a singular national identity is defined abstractly by the French motto of “liberté, égalité, fraternité.” All are equal before the law because the law, like society, is color-blind.
This insistence on color-blindness manifests in different forms. Because the national curriculum is established centrally in Paris, it means all students, for example those in the French Caribbean islands who are descendants of enslaved Africans, are taught a shared history of France that begins with les Gaulois and climbs through the centuries of kings and queens before arriving at revolution and world wars. Colonialism and slavery are brushed upon, but unless a teacher at Frantz Fanon high school in Martinique takes precious time to step away from the national curriculum, none of the students will read the works of the Creole political philosopher.
Universalism extends beyond education. Under the auspices of French secularism knows as laïcité, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the right-wing party Rassemblement National and former presidential candidate, proposed a total ban on wearing the Muslim head scarf in public. In public health, it means officials have no way of knowing how health crises affect different communities (during the Covid pandemic, Reuters accumulated data that revealed French Muslims died at a higher rate from the virus than the overall population). Universalism means no records can be kept on discrimination in the workplace, housing, or access to public funds. The French government has no way of knowing if the children of French immigrants are falling behind those of native-born students and therefore has no way of targeting any reforms that might help them catch up.
Over the years there have been murmurs of reform. Following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye wrote an impassioned op-ed in Le Monde rekindling the debate on keeping national ethnic statistics. She wrote: “If universalism is going to live and prosper, we shouldn’t hesitate to call things what they are, to say that skin colour isn’t neutral, that a name or surname is stigmatising.” By making universalism the foundation of the law, Ndiaye argued, extremists on either end of the political spectrum could claim racism is everywhere or nowhere, and nobody could disprove their claims. Her words were not well received. The economy minister, Bruno le Maire, scoffed, “A French person is a French person, and I do not take account of their race, origin, or religion, and I do not want to take account of it.”
Universalism has amounted to institutional earmuffs—a wilful ignorance of widespread racism, not only in the government but in the broader public sphere. Bemoaning the growing influence of Anglo-Saxon universities, and of “le wokeism” in particular, French intellectuals are quick to argue that those who fight against racism are themselves responsible for spreading racial animus. Last year, the French minister for higher education, Frédérique Vidal, attempted to launch an investigation into French universities for what she called widespread “Islamo-gauchisme”—an entirely made-up concept that asserts the left is legitimizing Islamic terrorism and trying to “corrupt society.” In an interview with a conservative French newspaper, the minister claimed that students are increasingly seeing themselves through a prism of identity politics that is set on dividing society into categories of oppression.
It shouldn’t be controversial to say that France is a racist country. The country’s wealth was built on an imperial past that relied on the stolen labor of the enslaved and the colonized. Nor should be it be controversial to say that everybody experiences their nationality in different ways. Being French does not exclusively mean buying a ham-baguette sandwich from the local bakery at lunch and chasing it down with a nice burgundy wine. It can also mean spending Friday afternoon at the mosque or spending Sunday eating Senegalese fish and rice. How Nahel Merzouk experienced his nationality in the banlieue is no less valid an experience than those of the children of French presidents attending lycée across the river in Neuilly sur Seine. The difference is that those children will have numerous opportunities that Merzouk never could have dreamed of. Acknowledging this lack of égalité would be a sign of national strength, not weakness.
Charlotte Kilpatrick @charlottekilpa4
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France
Jul 13, 2023 11:11:08 GMT
Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2023 11:11:08 GMT
PARIS (AP) — The Eiffel Tower, chateaus in the Loire Valley — and cars on fire. Tourists to France faced a new reality during an eruption of nationwide anger following the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk. While hotel owners cite a drop in bookings in some areas, the French government insisted on Thursday that the overall picture for the tourism industry remains rosy, and promised a “great season” for visitors despite the simmering discontent. Officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance held a meeting Thursday with representatives of the tourism industry to discuss the consequences that the nationwide unrest following Nahel’s death has had on France’s tourist activity and international image. The fatal shooting sparked anger across France and stirred up already existing tensions about racial and class-related discrimination in policing, which often targets neighborhoods with low-income families with origins from former French colonies. The violence ebbed this week, but the roots of the tensions remain. The Union of Hotel Trades and Industries (UMIH) reported that hotel cancellations in Marseille had reached up to 30% in the wake of the protests, and anticipated that attendance at bars and restaurants in Paris could plummet by half. Local and national reports cited international flight and hotel cancellations driven by fear, added to the property damages that businesses suffered during several days of violence. But the minister overseeing trade and tourism, Olivia Grégoire, refuted those numbers during Thursday’s meeting, which included representatives from UMIH. She called the figures “pessimistic and wrong,” yet acknowledged that the government is currently unable to provide official data about damage caused. The ministry vowed to help tourism establishments impacted by the violence, which included days of clashes between young people and police, the burning of cars and public buildings, and the looting of stores. Incidents hit about 500 cities and towns around France, including Paris. Some of the measures include postponing or erasing debt for those businesses and offering partial unemployment benefits to employees who are unable to work because of the unrest. “Let’s not add anguish to anguish, and problems to problems,” Grégoire said. “We have everything to make this season a great season.” She said that there’s “no wave of cancellation or postponements of flights from or to Paris. “The fact is that restaurants, hotels, and shops are open today in Paris, Marseille, and Lyon, and this is the most important thing.” The tourists thronging to the French capital this week took extra precautions, but seem largely unfazed. “Basically, we’re looking around and making sure that where we are seems safe (and) if there’s any police presence,” said Valisha Ismail, a 40-year-old visiting from South Africa. “If there’s a large crowd, then we try to move away from that.” Others said they felt safe because of the prominent police presence in the streets of the French capital. Heavily armed officers patrolled past Dior and Cartier boutiques on the Champs-Elysees avenue this week as part of an exceptional, 45,000-strong nationwide police deployment that led to more than 3,000 arrests — and new concerns about police excesses. Johan and Jenna Haukbrauer, a couple visiting from Germany for the first time, said they were aware of what was unfolding but were nonetheless not discouraged. “We checked the news, but we were fine because there are lots of policemen here and security forces, so for us it’s fine,” Johan said. Gilda Stanbery, visiting her daughter outside Paris, said they weren’t able to come downtown during the most intense days of rioting. But a few days later, they could, and she said, “We are here now.”
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