The Patriot Post® · The French Summer of Rage — Les Incompétents

This week, as we approach the anniversary of our nation’s Revolutionary War to secure American Liberty from tyrannical rule, it is notable that for much of the last week, French urban centers have been scenes of violent riots, which some have dubbed the “Second French Revolution.”

For the record, the last transformational French Revolution was the bloody decade-long “reign of terror” purge beginning in 1789. That revolt had few parallels with the spirit of our American Revolutionary War, and it resulted in a Napoleonic dictatorship that would serve as a model for totalitarian tyrant regimes to the present day. The revolution was typical of French excess and debauchery of that era, which would also corrupt Thomas Paine, the only American Revolutionary War influencer who has no grave.

That excess and debauchery are still rooted deep in French culture.

But a “Second French Revolution”? No; this looks more like the 2005 Islamist riots in French urban centers.

Moreover, it is certainly reminiscent of the 2020 “Summer of Rage” across our nation after a Minneapolis thug, George Floyd, died while being detained by police. That launched the Left’s BIG Lie claim of “systemic racism.” And it launched a record surge of violence unleashed by Biden and his Demo cadres, primarily their Marxist so-called Black Lives Matter radicals and the so-called antifa movement of self-styled “anti-fascist” fascists. The residual of that violence has yet to subside.

So what happened in France?

In the early morning hours of June 27, as French Muslims were preparing for the observance of Eid al-Adha, two Paris Police Prefecture officers in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, spotted and pursued a Mercedes A Class AMG “rental” with a Polish registration plate, which was speeding in a bus lane. The car was driven by a young thug, Nahel Merzouk, and after a high-speed chase he was finally stopped, then attempted to flee again, reportedly striking one officer, and was shot. Nahel died at the scene.

Over the last five days, the riots that began in Nanterre spread to the rest of France, and some have spilled beyond its borders. As was the case here in 2020, violent opportunist “protesters” have targeted state institutions, including the torching of town halls and police stations, and looted thousands of businesses.

Tens of thousands of officers were activated in response, hundreds of whom were subsequently injured, and thousands of thugs have been arrested.

In France, it is legal for police to fire on a fleeing vehicle, as such vehicles present a deadly threat to others in their path. This was the third fatal shooting during a traffic stop in 2023, and there were 13 such deaths in 2022. Some of the other perps, like Nahel, were Algerian immigrants — leading to the French version of “systemic racism” accusations.

What is “systemic” in these cases is not the race or ethnicity of the perpetrators but their abject and deadly disregard for the law, as well as the safety of others. Case in point would be the “victim” in this instance, who at age 17 already has 15 entries on his rap sheet, including a resisting arrest charge the previous weekend and five times since 2021.

That notwithstanding, socialist French President Emmanuel Macron, a member of the “Les Incompétents” political party, quickly declared the shooting “inexplicable and inexcusable.” Furthermore, to placate the rioters, the officer involved has been charged with “voluntary homicide by a person in authority.” It will be interesting to see if, to further placate protestors, the French officer is convicted — as was the case with the officer convicted in the death of George Floyd.

The French national police unions responded sternly:

Now that’s enough… Facing these savage hordes, asking for calm is no longer enough, it must be imposed! Restoring the republican order and putting the apprehended beyond the capacity to harm should be the only political signals to give. In the face of such exactions, the police family must stand together. Our colleagues, like the majority of citizens, can no longer bear the tyranny of these violent minorities. The time is not for union action, but for combat against these “pests”. Surrendering, capitulating, and pleasing them by laying down arms are not the solutions in light of the gravity of the situation. All means must be put in place to restore the rule of law as quickly as possible. Once restored, we already know that we will relive this mess that we have been enduring for decades.

For these reasons, Alliance Police Nationale and UNSA Police will take their responsibilities and warn the government from now on that at the end, we will be in action and without concrete measures for the legal protection of the Police, an appropriate penal response, significant means provided, the police will judge the extent of the consideration given. Today the police are in combat because we are at war. Tomorrow we will be in resistance and the government will have to become aware of it.

The issue here is not the death of a young hoodlum. The issue is that France and increasingly the United Kingdom have an “Islamist problem,” and it is not going to go away by placating the mobs. Notably, it is part of the reason for the resurgence of conservative leaders in Europe, including conservative party UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.