Like French observers, the foreign press seeks to understand – and to predict. After the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old motorist killed Tuesday in Nanterre during a police check, and two nights of high tension in the Hauts-de-Seine prefecture and other cities in France, the foreign correspondents multiply the analyzes and wonder how things will turn out.

Clashes between the population and the police, political contests, protests by sports and cultural personalities: “All the ingredients are there to blow up a pressure cooker,” says Le Soir. In its article of Wednesday, June 28, the Belgian newspaper notes that, from Emmanuel Macron to Gérald Darmanin via Elisabeth Borne, “the executive has taken out all its water lances” to “put out the fire as quickly as possible before it spreads – trying, at least”.

The correspondent of the newspaper in Paris underlines in particular that “the Minister of the Interior, usually quick to defend his men, on the contrary clearly disassociated himself from them” by openly criticizing the police officers implicated. “The word ‘blur’ is not uttered, but, to the chagrin of several professional unions, the messages are without the slightest ambiguity,” she notes. The New York Times also notes that Gérald Darmanin “was unusually critical”.

Like the French government, the foreign press fears an increase in urban violence. In its report, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung evokes “scenes of civil war”, being alarmed to see “certain districts completely left to themselves during the explosion of violence”. “Among politicians, concern prevails that they will no longer be able to control the widespread fire,” adds the German daily.

“Culture Broth”

The correspondent of El Mundo in Paris considers that the whole country is already “out of control”. She explains it with a stark diagnosis of the state of the country’s suburbs: “In these marginal and often abandoned places, where discontent infuses, the integration model has failed. Mainly French people of foreign origin live there (…) born in a France which treats them, they believe, as second-class citizens. (…) They are suspicious of the police, who are suspicious of them. Such is the broth of culture where the fire catches episodically. »

His colleague from El Pais shares this analysis, adding that in France “the authorities live with the permanent fear of a repetition of the riots of 2005”, when the death of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré in an electrical transformer, after a confrontation with the police, had caused disturbances serious enough for the government to activate a state of emergency. For the leading newspaper in Spain, these events had “shed light on the discrimination suffered by young people in the suburbs”.

The BBC correspondent in Paris also recalls the memory of 2005. In his eyes, the case is heard: “The Nanterre shooting is destined to become one of those emblematic moments of troubled relations between the police and the underprivileged population. suburbs. The government realizes this as well as anyone, which is why it will act very carefully in the coming days. »

The journalist wonders about the rules for the use of firearms by the police during traffic checks, considering the prospect of a “review”: “No one disputes that a refusal to comply is a serious offense. (…) But on thirteen occasions last year, occupants of cars in these situations were killed by the French police. This strongly suggests that something is wrong. »

“Two irreconcilable camps”

An editorial in La Tribune de Genève, for its part, calls for a way out of a “blocked debate” between “two caricatural and irreconcilable camps”: “On the one hand a perfect police force that never makes mistakes, on the other indignant victims who are only angels. “According to all appearances, the policeman did not have to shoot”, analyzes the author, who adds, about the young driver killed, that “if he had obeyed the police, he would live”. “In the French political debate, these two truths are never confronted, they clash sterilely, deplores the Swiss newspaper. Poor debate, sad debate, which only maintains the violence because each one only wants to see that of the other. »

In a very dark post, the Süddeutsche Zeitung takes a more decided position, considering that the thirteen deaths recorded in 2022 in France during roadside checks are “a disgrace for the country”. The German newspaper evokes “a general problem of police violence in France”. “The Council of Europe recently confirmed this after the protests against the pension reform,” he points out. And to recall the images of the repression of the processions against the mega-basin of Sainte-Soline, at the end of March: “We see police officers there who give the impression of going to war. (…) It is a miracle that no one died. »

“It’s a bad tradition: in France, the police do not protect the citizens in the first place, they protect the State, still deplores the title. This fundamental principle permeates all units, from specialized intervention forces to roadside checks. The search for de-escalation is foreign to many of them. Until that changes, such incidents will happen again. »