After the return to calm following the riots, it is time to take stock. On Wednesday, before the Senate Law Commission, Gérald Darmanin returned to the profile of those arrested in the context of urban violence committed after the death of Nahel, killed by a police officer.

Asked by Senator LR Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio about the link between immigration and the riots, the Minister of the Interior refused to see “an identity explanation”. He first explained that he had visited fifteen police stations at night in four days. During his visit, he said he asked for the list of people in custody and the facts for which they were held.

Conclusion for Gérald Darmanin: “Yes, there are people who, apparently, could have an immigrant background. But there were a lot of Kevin and Mattéo, if I may say so. A way for the minister to dismiss the “identity” explanation, which seems “very wrong” to him. “I think [giving] identity explanation would be wrong,” he continued. He also reported “90%” French rioters for only “10%” foreigners.

The minister then judged the “social” explanation for the riots as not being “the only answer”. He insisted that “very modest situations” do not lead to “attacking libraries or CCAS (communal center for social action)”. “That would be an extremely strong insult to all families who work and keep order,” he said.

Bringing back to his own example of a child from immigration and a modest family, he wished “not to confuse things” and to believe in the “share of freedom of each individual to get out of his determinism”. He recalled that “many children of immigration” worked for “the national police, the BRI, the gendarmerie or in the armies”.

Gérald Darmanin then said he was committed to fighting “the speeches which consist in saying that there are people who are intrinsically predetermined”. France’s first cop felt that it was more “a question of integration and action by the Republic to help them integrate” and to “take individual responsibility”.

According to figures from Place Beauvau, 3,651 people have been arrested since the start of the riots, including 1,366 in Paris alone.