The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Michael Roth, sees the riots in France as a threat to the country’s stability. “This brutal, unrestrained destructive rage of young people, which seems aimlessly directed against everyone and everything, is a new, terrible escalation,” said the SPD politician to “Bild am Sonntag”. There is currently no end in sight. “Here the state must proceed with all consistency, the safety of many people and the stability of the country are at stake.” Unfortunately, France is not an isolated case. In many European countries, divisions and alienation, as well as violence against things and people, are increasing.
The deputy CDU chairman Andreas Jung, member of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly, sees a reason for the outbreak of violence in a social division. “Despite good economic development, France is a deeply divided country,” he told the Sunday newspaper. Many young French people feel left behind and are afraid of the future. “Lack of prospects and integration problems lead to an explosive mixture in the suburbs – and the extremists on all sides pour oil on the fire and heat it up.”
The ongoing unrest was triggered by the death of a 17-year-old during a police check on Tuesday. A motorcycle patrol in Nanterre near Paris had stopped the young man at the wheel of a car in the morning. When he suddenly drove off, a deadly shot fell from the service weapon of a police officer who is now being investigated for manslaughter. The incident caused dismay across the country, and France has been shaken by violent unrest ever since. President Emmanuel Macron canceled a state visit to Germany planned for Monday and Tuesday because of the riots.
