Riots in France and the Lessons in Policing

POLICE, ANYWHERE, everywhere, have a tough job to do – drawing a balance between what is lawful and what is unlawful, what is disagreeable and what is humane

- Raghav Chandra

Policemen too are humans and products of the society in which they live. Police excesses can, therefore, take place anytime. However, it is the speed with which they are dealt with and the remedial action that is taken to comfort citizens that matters. The recent riots and violence in France point to a situation of imbalance in policing that has valuable lessons for other societies and nations.

Riots first broke out in France on 27 June, after a traffic policeman shot a 17-year-old teenager, Nahel, of African descent, killing him. Born and brought up in France, Nahel was in a rented Mercedes car without the requisite legal papers and failed to obey orders to stop and was shot. Coming on the heels of earlier protests against pension reforms, the current riots are indeed a big hit to civil society in France, apart from being a political threat to the French presidency.

In 2005, the last time that France was convulsed by such widespread nightly rioting in cities across the country, it took three weeks and the introduction of a state of emergency to restore calm. Actually, the current riots have less to do with Mr Macron, and more with the nature of policing. The issue that is raising most hackles is the loosening in early 2017 of the rules governing the police use of firearms, their use by traffic policemen and the consequent increase in deaths – in 2022 13 people were killed during traffic checks – a record. There is a perception that youth are getting checked by the traffic police for who they are and not for what they are doing. Not surprisingly, the United Nations human rights office called out France “to seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement.”