Violence flares in tense Paris suburbs over lockdown
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Three nights of unrest in the French capital’s northern suburbs have stoked fears of a major flare-up in deprived neighbourhoods where weeks of lockdown have exacerbated the simmering tensions between restless youths and police.
The trouble in nearby Villeneuve-La-Garenne first flared late on Saturday after a motorcyclist collided with the open door of an unmarked police car during a pursuit. Witnesses said the officers had deliberately opened the door into the motorcyclist’s path, a claim denied by police.
The skirmishes lasted into the early hours of Sunday before calm was restored, but unrest broke out again the following two nights, spreading to other suburbs north of Paris, including Asnières. Police said fireworks were aimed at them and several cars were torched while officers fired tear gas to disperse the troublemakers.
Relations between police and residents have long been a fraught issue in France’s ethnically diverse suburbs, where men of African and North African origin complain about being routinely stopped and searched simply because of the colour of their skin.
Critics of law enforcement tactics say they reflect a wider failure to take into account the specificities of the impoverished and densely populated suburbs as they grapple with the twin challenges of a health emergency and home confinement.
While Seine-Saint-Denis was hit by Covid-19 later than other territories, health officials have since declared it one of four French departments suffering from an “exceptional” spike in deaths.
The combination of large families in cramped quarters and a lack of doctors and hospital beds has left the local population particularly exposed to the virus. And while many Parisians fled to countryside residences or switched to working from home, the capital’s poorer suburbs have supplied most of the workers who keep the metropolis running.
