Weeks after the urban riots, Emmanuel Macron on Thursday warned French youth of “division” and “disunity” that can lead to “chaos” and “injustice” during the commemoration of the liberation of the town of Bormes-les-Mimosas (Var).
“There is in our young people an appetite for freedom, an idealism that sometimes seeks itself. And to which we must respond. Without which, sometimes, this noble aspiration turns against itself and undermines the foundations of this nation of freedom, equality and fraternity initiated in 1789, this sum of tangled destinies which increases French youth, generation after generation, faithful in the spirit of enlightenment”, declared the President of the Republic.
“For out of this common field prosper division, disunity, which paves the way for chaos and injustice”, added Emmanuel Macron. For his first speech since the summer break, the Head of State spoke, as every year, during a short speech, 13 minutes, on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Bormes-les. -Mimosas, town where the Fort de Brégançon is located, residence of the Presidents of the Republic.
Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the young French people who took part in the Provence landings, who were “ready to die for collective freedom”.
“Without words and without foam, they showed us that this was and that was it, exercising freedom. It’s not a frenzy of transgression, it’s not a fever to overthrow prohibitions. It is first and foremost a controlled and strong will capable of assuming the constraints that it chooses, “said the Head of State.
“And this freedom there, which only exists because it is always and first of all collective, the rights which ensue which are only there because there were first of all duties, this is what which we need to nurture our younger generations,” he added.
The death of Nahel, killed by a police officer during a road check on June 27 in Nanterre, was followed by several nights of urban riots in many cities in France. The Head of State then stressed the need to restore authority in the country, at all levels.
