A motorist resists police action every twenty minutes in France + video

Although French police officers have been allowed to use their service weapons if they feel threatened during traffic stops since 2017, they are less and less likely to do so. The threat, however, is increasing.

FRANCE-CRIME-POLICE-DEMO Fotó: CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU

The whole of France was in an uproar after the death of the 17-year-old who was shot by a policeman in Nanterre, near the capital. The boy of Algerian origin had previously broken several traffic rules, and then resisted when the police tried to stop him. According to the prosecutor, he endangered a cyclist and a pedestrian while fleeing. 

Intervention complète du procureur de #Nanterre pic.twitter.com/cN7fGWAymV

— Fdesouche.com est une revue de presse (@F_Desouche) June 29, 2023

The car was eventually stopped and surrounded by the police, but the driver still refused to cooperate, behaved in a threatening manner and tried to drive away. One of the officers fired a shot. The young man drove off but hit a pole after a few meters. It was revealed that the bullet went through his arm and hit his chest, mortally wounding him.

The incident sparked riots that have been ragingacross the country for days. A high number of people have been detained, many of whom are minors aged between 14 and 18. President Emmanuel Macron has therefore pointed out the importance of parents' responsible behavior.

Un tiers des personnes interpellées la nuit dernière sont des jeunes, parfois très jeunes. J'appelle les parents à la responsabilité.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 30, 2023

Th right-wing National Rally party would also put pressure on the parents. The party argues that French people should by no means show solidarity with the parents of repeat offenders and the party would make those parents pay for the financial damage caused by their children. The party has also launched a petition to stop paying state benefits to parents of repeat offenders.

🔴 Il n’y a aucune raison que les Français soient solidaires de parents de mineurs récidivistes, et qu’ils paient les réparations de LEURS dégâts.

Signez notre pétition pour exiger la fin des allocations aux parents de mineurs récidivistes 👉🏻 https://t.co/Rckr09Kfpq pic.twitter.com/nJ74bMdzys

— Rassemblement National (@RNational_off) July 3, 2023

The week-long riots caused considerable material damage across the country. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that the French government was urgently allocating €20 million to repair the traffic cameras damaged by the protesters and to install additional cameras.

Pour faire face aux dégradations subies par les collectivités territoriales sur leurs caméras de vidéosurveillance ces derniers jours, le gouvernement a décidé de mobiliser en urgence une enveloppe de 20 millions d’euros pour construire et réparer 1 000 caméras. https://t.co/MQIt8iIdL7 pic.twitter.com/WcnhYGBxce

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) July 3, 2023

Both the authorities and the protesters compared the 2023 riots to the 2005 events, when a three-week-long demonstration caused massive damage across the country. Now, seeing the rioting crowds chanting "Allahu akbar", the authorities could be in for much worse than 18 years ago.

In 2005, the wave of riots started in the predominantly Muslim suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois in Paris. The demonstrations began after teenagers of African descent attempted to flee from police officers who wanted to check their residence permits on 27 October. The two young people tried to hide in a transformer house, but were both killed in an unfortunate accident. The riots spread from the capital's suburbs to the whole country and went on for weeks, leading the French government to declare a state of emergency in November.

The press has also compared the 2005 riots with the current protests. While in 2005, a total of 10,346 cars were set on fire in three weeks, this year the same figure has been 5,000 in only one week, local paper Ouest France  writes, citing figures by the Interior Ministry. However, a much higher number of buildings have been set on fire and damaged in the recent riots. That figure was 307 in 2005 and 1,000 this year, including several town halls, schools and other public buildings.

The material damage is significant. Florence Lustman, president of the association of French insurers, said that some 5,800 claims have been filed, and their total value is €75 million more than during the riots in 2005, Capital.fr reports. According to the newspaper, protesters have vandalized 243 schools, 250 tobacconists, 300 bank branches, 200 supermarkets and set fire to or damaged thousands of other buildings. In addition, the rioters attacked 269 police stations and set 12,400 garbage bins on fire.

The riots were particularly intense in the Ile-de-France region around Paris, where an estimated €20 million in damage was caused to buses and other vehicles. The French entrepreneurs and employers' organization Medef estimated the damage at €1 billion, including losses incurred by the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Almost 4,000 people have been arrested, more than a third of them minors, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. The average age of the young people was 17, but many of them were only 12-13 years old. The majority of those detained, 60 percent, had no criminal record. In total, 45,000 police officers were deployed, 800 of whom were injured during the clashes, compared with only 224 injuries back in 2005. These figures well illustrate the violence of the current riots.

The legality of police officers’ use of weapons when a driver refuses to cooperate during a traffic has come up in numerous debates recently. Under a 2017 law in France, police officers have the right to use their weapons if they feel that the driver poses a threat to their lives or physical safety. The law was amended after four police officers were injured, two of them seriously, when a dozen of people attacked their vehicles with Molotov cocktails in Viry Chatillon in October 2016.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that since the law was introduced, there have been fewer cases when police officer used their weapons and these resulted in fewer fatalities than before. Police officers used their weapons 202 times in 2017, followed by 170 in 2018, 147 in 2019, 153 in 2020 and 157 in 2021.

As regard fatalities, police action involving firearms resulted in 13 deaths in 2022, six more than the previous year, according to a report by the Public Senat television channel. In terms of resistance to police action, the French Road Safety Observatory (ONISR) has reported some surprising figures. There were 27,206 such cases in 2021, an increase of 2.4% compared to 2020, and a staggering 19.4% compared to 2017.

Speaking to the press in 2021, Gerald Darmanin said that a driver refused to cooperate with the authorities during a traffic stop every 20 minutes on average in France. He added that many police officers and gendarmes were injured by repeat offenders.

In October 2020, a policeman was critically injured when he was knocked over by a car whose driver refused to stop. The interior minister also reported the case on Twitter, adding that every effort was being made to catch the suspect, who had fled the scene.

Cette nuit, un policier a été violemment percuté par un véhicule en Essonne alors qu’il procédait à un contrôle, dans le cadre de son travail. Il est dans un état grave.
Je lui apporte tout mon soutien.
Tous les moyens sont mis en œuvre pour retrouver l’auteur en fuite.

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 14, 2020

Another police officer who was injured earlier told CNews that he wanted to stop the driver of a car that was blocking traffic, but the man did not stop the engine, but accelerated and pulled the officer with the car for several meters.

The policeman also said that he drew his service weapon but did not use it, despite being in danger. The officer suffered serious injuries and underwent several operations. He was in a wheelchair for three months during his rehabilitation.

The most recent incident when police officers injured during a traffic stop occurred on 18 June, barely a few days before the Nanterre riots, in the small town of Aubagne, near Marseille. A motorist refused to stop when instructed to do so by the police. After a chase, the two vehicles collided. Two officers were injured in the neck and a third in the knee, with the latter requiring emergency surgery, TF1 reported citing a police statement. 

The above cases suggest that French police officers are in a very difficult situation. If they use their weapons they could be held accountable, and if they do not, they could suffer serious injuries.

Meanwhile, the policeman shooting the teenager and his family cannot feel safe, as the weekly Oise Hebdo has made his name and address public. After the incident, IM Darmanin turned to the Public Prosecutor's Office, as the paper put the policeman's relatives in danger.

La « publication » Oise Hebdo publie des informations personnelles mettant en danger la vie de la famille du policier en détention. Malgré nos demandes de retrait de ce contenu irresponsable, celle-ci persiste. Je saisis le procureur de la République.

— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) July 6, 2023

The post has since been deleted from Twitter.

Cover photo: French riot police near a burnt-out garbage bin (Photo: AFP/Clement Mahoudeau)