Immigrants And Their Defenders At The Receiving End Of The French Right-Wing’s Cannon

The problems of the Algerian community and other immigrant communities in France began to loom on the horizon after the popular uprising that swept the streets of the major French cities, in rejection of the racism of some police officers, following the heinous crime that claimed the life of a young man of Algerian origin, Nahel, at the hands of a policeman who is currently in custody pending investigation.
In a reckless decision, the government of Elizabeth Borne has decided to punish the parents of any minor arrested for taking part in the popular uprising against the racism of the French police, according to press statements by the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin.
The decision appears to be an attempt by the French authorities to intimidate the parents of the demonstrators and to influence their children to prevent them from leaving their parents’ homes, with the aim of controlling the pace of the protests, after the failure of the option of violence represented by the recruitment of some 45,000 police officers to face up to the violent popular uprising.
What is remarkable about this case is that the attempts at intimidation did not stop at the parents of the young people in revolt, but even extended to French politicians who, like the founder of the “France Insoumise” party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, expressed their disapproval of the way in which their country’s authorities were dealing with the aftermath of the murder of the young man, Nahel. Melenchon, who has been targeted by the French traditional right and the far right, as well as by the media that revolve around them.
Melenchon is considered to be one of the few French politicians with high political morals, so that racism and the supremacy of the original white race over the incoming race are not in his dictionary, and he does not hesitate to criticize the government and the police when they commit stupidity, as is the case these days.
Melenchon, in an interview with the private French channel LCI, strongly attacked the Minister of the Interior, and behind him the government of Elizabeth Borne, for trying to hold parents responsible for their children’s participation in the protests that have swept many French cities, questioning the feasibility of such a decision, especially in the case of parents who leave home at five in the early morning to go to work.
Mélenchon’s decision to take part in the popular demonstrations in solidarity with the family of the murdered young man, Nahel, and not to invite the demonstrators to stop the protests, increased the anger of political and media circles close to the extreme right, and he was portrayed as a traitor to his country and his people, to himself and to his party, “Brother France”.
The suffering of the French who are fair to immigrants, especially left-wing politicians, will also apply to immigrant communities in the near future. The first decision the French authorities will take is to make the Algerian and other immigrant communities pay for the financial losses caused by the protests that followed the humiliating liquidation of young Nahel. By raising taxes, they are confirming that it is they who are suffering from deadly unemployment.
However, the pressure that the French authorities are putting on the Algerian community and other immigrant and Muslim communities, especially in retaliation for the violent protests in response to the horrendous killing of the young man Nahel, will inevitably have counterproductive results, such as creating a state of polarization that will lead to a rift in French society that may be difficult to repair later.
The features of this rift began to take shape with the mobilization of the traditional right and the extreme right to collect donations for the criminal policeman who heinously killed the young man, Nahel, which reached around one million euros on Monday 3rd July, in direct response to the solidarity campaign launched by moderate French people to support the family of the murdered Algerian youth.