Reflections on the Riots in France
2nd July 2023
Riots have convulsed France over the past five nights. The New York Times reports, for example, in a story published in the past two hours “France Arrests Hundreds More in Fifth Night of Unrest.” President Macron scrapped an official trip to Germany in light of the riots, though not before he made it to the Elton John concert in Paris.
The occasion this time around is the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old boy of North African descent identified as Nahel M. this past Tuesday. Some 45,000 police officers have been deployed across the country for the past two evenings. Although the news reports are not helpful on this point, I take it that the rioters come largely from France’s large Muslim community.