"Thousands of young people, mostly with immigrant backgrounds, attack the police with murderous intent, set fire to town halls and schools, break into and loot shops as they march on the streets," said Eric Zemmour described the situation to Magyar Nemzet. The president of the French right-wing party Reconquete (Reconquer) said the only conclusion that can be drawn based on the above is that
France is on the verge of civil war.
Civilisations clashing
In my opinion, the riots in question are primarily ethnic in nature,
said Eric Zemmour, adding that the main driving force behind the riots is the hatred for France that the French left has been instilling in immigrants for decades. The left portrays immigrants as victims, reinforcing in them the feeling that their host country is racist. The right-wing politician emphasized that it was the left that targeted voters living in the suburbs, courting them while flouting all the rules of assimilation. The French population is paying a high price for all this, Mr Zemmour said.
"For decades, France has been taking in masses of people from Africa and the Middle East, making up the population of entire countries, and we have witnessed a real population exchange. Two very different civilizations are clashing, Judeo-Christian and Islam. As a consequence of all this, France has embarked on the road to becoming a third world country, with the emergence of foreign enclaves, bringing with them hatred of France and the inevitable, brutal violence."
State of emergency
Magyar Nemzet also asked the politician about the possible solution to the situation. Our newspaper also asked the politician about the possible solution of the situation. Eric Zemmour highlighted that Reconquete, his party, has made several proposals to restore lasting peace in the country. He believes that French police must be given the means to maintain order in the suburbs again.
To this end, a state of emergency should be declared,
Mr Zemmour underlined.
In his view, those who vandalise should pay for the material damage they cause, and French taxpayers mustn't be made to pay for it. He therefore proposes that troublemakers should be legally obliged to restore what they have damaged or destroyed, and that the families of unruly minors should face cuts to social benefits or heavy fines. Eric Zemmour also spoke to BFMTV on the subject, outlining in five points the measures that should be taken to punish troublemakers. An interesting element in the proposals is stripping minors involved in riots of their French citizenship as soon as they turn 18. In addition, Mr Zemmour would commit rioters to doing community service and restoring what they had vandalised.
Putting an end to immigration is the only long-term and permanent solution to the problem, the politician said.
To this end, Eric Zemmour has put forth a proposal for a migration package with a number of measures, including the abolition of family reunification. Besides, Mr Zemmour would terminate the legalisation of illegal immigrants, would abolish social benefits paid to foreign nationals and would press for the deportation and repatriation of foreign-national perpetrators.
Inaction on part of country's leadership
Our newspaper also asked about the material damage caused during the riots. According to French press reports, the destruction during the recent unrest was much greater than in 2005, when riots broke out after two underage migrants, chased by police, lost their lives in an accident. Rioting lasted for three weeks at the time and the government eventually declared a state of emergency. Incidentally, far more policemen and gendarmes were injured during the recent protests than eighteen years ago. The right-wing politician emphasized that while fifteen thousand policemen were mobilised in 2005, this number was now forty thousand.
The importance of the current riots is greater precisely because the country's leadership has taken no action to improve the situation since 2005
Mr Zemmour underlined.
It is clear that the current riots are far more important that any previous protests, and if no action is taken, even more violent unrest can be expected, according to the right-wing politician.
There is only one solution left for the government to prevent this from happening, and that is to introduce concrete measures to fight immigration,
Mr Zemmour opined. The politician pointed out that he had been warning the French authorities about the above-described problem for two decades, yet nothing had been done. Mr Zemmour revealed that this is why he decided to run in the last presidential election, where he came fourth in the first round, securing slightly more than seven per cent of the votes.
Cover photo: Eric Zemmour (Photo: AFP/Hans Lucas/Francois Pauletto)
