Paris: In response to recent riots brought on by the police shooting of a teenager, President Emmanuel Macron stated on Monday that France needed a return to authority "at every level."
After Nahel M., 17, was killed during a traffic stop last month, there were riots, looting, and protests. Many people blamed the government for allowing an institutionalised racism in the police force to grow.
Macron criticised "the violence of looting" and "the burning of schools, city halls, gyms, and libraries," saying: "The lesson I draw from his is order, order, order."
During a visit to New Caledonia, Macron said on French television that "order must prevail. Without order, there can be no freedom, he asserted.
Every level of authority needs to be restored in our nation, beginning with the family, he declared.
"We must make significant investments in our youth to give them a framework," Macron said.
Further criticising social media's role in the riots and looting, the president stated that "public digital order" was required "to stop excesses."
Numerous young people, according to him, used social media to plan gatherings and riots and even "to enter into competition with each other" while the riots were happening.
Nearly half of the 1,300 people being prosecuted for their alleged involvement in the riots are under the age of 18.
The discussion about law and order, immigration, racism, and police brutality was sparked by the most severe urban violence since 2005.
Macron issued a warning last week after rearranging his cabinet, stating that the riots had revealed "a risk of fragmentation, of deep division, of the nation." He told the cabinet on Friday that there was a "need for authority and respect" and urged the new administration to "draw the lessons from what happened and provide sound answers."
The first stop on Macron's Pacific tour, which also includes Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, is New Caledonia, according to his office last week. During this time, he is expected to present a "French alternative" for a region where there are tensions between China and the US.
