The president of Reconquest Eric Zemmour called on the executive on Sunday to “get rid of” the “Malik Oussekine syndrome”, named after a student killed on the sidelines of a demonstration in 1986, and to “restore order” after the outbursts and violence observed in recent days.

Criticizing the “anti-democratic thugs” who, in the demonstrations, “begin to rot everything, to break, to attack the cops and to risk killing”, Mr. Zemmour said he was “astonished” by “the impunity not only judicial but also media and politics” from which these perpetrators of violence would benefit, during the Grand rendez-vous Europe 1 / Cnews / Les Echos.

As such, Mr. Zemmour believes “that we must give instructions of firmness” and that “justice follows”.

“I know that since 1986, all power has been paralyzed by the Malik Oussekine syndrome”, named after this 22-year-old French student of Algerian origin, killed in Paris by police on the sidelines of a demonstration against a project university reform.

“This is what haunts all our rulers. I think we have to get rid of this syndrome (…) and we absolutely have to restore order,” he insisted.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, 441 police officers and gendarmes were injured Thursday during the mobilizations against the pension reform. On Saturday, a prohibited demonstration against basins in Sainte-Soline in Deux-Sèvres also turned into a confrontation between gendarmes and activists.

For Mr. Zemmour, the main responsible for this political “climate” is the rebellious Jean-Luc Mélenchon, “hidden imam” of the left-wing union Nupes, and “maestro of all this”.

“Jean-Luc Mélenchon directs everyone” and “directs the country”, he hammered, denouncing “whether in the National Assembly, whether in the street, whether in the minds, in the media, on television” a “NUPES-ization of minds”.

This criticism extends for Mr. Zemmour to the National Rally, which “is fascinated by the NUPES” and “submits ideologically”. And “within LR, even you have many elected officials, (MP Aurélien) Pradié in the lead, who take themselves for Che Guevaras of bars-cafes”, he further quipped.

Asked about the attitude that Emmanuel Macron should adopt in the face of the challenge to the pension reform, Mr. Zemmour judged that the president had “no other solution but to hold on”. Himself, in such a situation, “will not give in”.

If he “gives up his reform, he is ridiculous” and “he can go and finish his term quietly in Rambouillet”, he added.

“If he holds new elections, if he dissolves, he will come back with a weaker majority,” he argued.

03/26/2023 12:16:28 –         Paris (AFP) –         © 2023 AFP