In order to understand what happened after the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel in France, it is important to learn how the current political circles approached the event. Although French President Emmanuel Macron makes comments that are ridiculed by opponents, such as linking the events to computer games, there are also statements that need to be considered.

The National Union, led by the far-right Marine Le Pen, is France’s second-largest party. The party chairperson, Jordan Bardella, said that criminal foreigners should be expelled from the country and argued that immigration control should be given priority. Bardella claimed that the police were stripped naked, justice was disarmed and there has been a crazy immigration policy. He defends that because of the government's mistakes, they are faced with such a situation today.

Furthermore, he stressed that the rebellious youths are dehumanized and have nothing in common with them. According to Bardella, France gave them everything, and they chose to spit in their faces and target France. "By bringing people into our country who do not share our way of life, we make the problem worse," said Bardella, claiming that the left instigated the burning of schools and that the left is unforgivable.

‘Explosion of identity’

The former adviser to Le Pen and the founder of the French Police Association also applauded the police who murdered Nahel. Eric Zemmour, one of the foremost right-wing extremists, said it was a civil war, an ethnic war, and a racial war. Zemmour’s ally, Laurence Trochu, retweeted the tweet, "This is an explosion of identity ... This is hate for France."

In short, the far-right use violently provocative language, and they explain that, despite being favored, immigrants declared war on the French because they are of different races.

Mathilde Panot, the group chair of La France Insoumise, a left-wing party with the third most members in the French National Assembly, reacted by saying that they were fueling the fire and argued that their relentless attitude was responsible for the explosion in the country. Giving the information that "since 2017, fatal shootings at moving vehicles have increased five times," Panot called for justice for Nahel. Finding it shameful that the U.N. asked the government to take action on the racism of the French police, Panot emphasized that "the police must be rebuilt from their cellar to the attic."

A particularly remarkable assessment belongs to Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh. For him, what happened is a logical consequence of decades of experience by elected representatives and residents of working-class cities. The mayors of the suburbs submitted numerous warnings and petitions, but the state deliberately ignored them. The mayors in question, who called for help to carry out work within the framework of the Borloo Report, were met with a contemptuous and arrogant response from Macron. This is why Rabeh believes they are paying a high price today.

La Courneuve Mayor Gilles Poux stated in 2020 that there was a deep sense of injustice and inequality fueled by the police, predicting it could explode, but his warning was ignored. As a result, Rabeh argues that the police, which is at odds with the neighborhoods, should be reformed, but this will not be enough because the problem is much more profound. "We can no longer live with two Frances who face each other, ignore each other, and refuse to mingle. Our schools can no longer be factories of academic failure, of the reproduction of inequalities, of the concentration of difficulties," Rabeh said, and thus wants a change in the French education system.

Alma Dufour, MP for France Insoumise, also retweeted Rabeh’s comments. Defending that the activists were right to be angry, Dufour also drew criticism because she legitimizes "vandalism" by stating that "the result legitimizes the means." Thus, this left-wing party, which took an attitude toward understanding the reaction of the rioters and seeing the state's faults, seems to have given way to extreme violence in favor of the rioters.

Eric Ciotti, leader of the fourth largest party, the Republicans, described Insoumise as an "extreme leftist" and said they should stop their rhetoric. He called for the rioters, whom he referred to as "scums" and "barbarians," to be hunted down and brutally punished before justice. "The Republic will not back down!" wrote Valerie Pecresse on Twitter, the former leader of the Republicans. Also, she demanded an unusual punishment be given to the rioters, whether they were minors or not.

Socialists’ stance

Socialists, on the other hand, refrained from making many statements in the early days and seemed content with condemning the violence and calling for restraint. However, one of the Socialist senators, Rémi Féraud, retweeted a post thanking the police.

It is clear that France is in the grip of sharp polarization. The parties accuse each other of a disastrous attitude to the country and may even see them as enemies and allow violence in extreme cases. It seems unlikely that they will find a common path in the current trajectory. If the situation continues like this, the recent events will likely grow, or even if this riot is suppressed, new and more severe events may break out.

Obviously, they cannot solve the problem with PKK support and Islamophobia. However, the president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, could say in a television show after Nahel’s murder that she wanted secular public schools with no Ramadan, abayas and any visible religious signs. It is difficult to say that those who insist on committing the same mistakes with obstinacy remain connected with reason. Therefore, we can say that France is facing the problem of a lack of intelligent politicians.

*Op-ed contributor based in Istanbul