Ten years after the tragedy that cost the lives of two young people in a Paris suburb and sparked three weeks of riots across the country, the French justice system acquitted two police officers on charges of failure to assist a person in danger on Monday. This followed the deaths in October 2005 of Bouna Traoré, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17, by electrocution during a police chase.
The deaths of the two teenagers triggered the most severe riots in the history of France’s suburbs, prompting the government at the time to declare a state of emergency.
In her usual style, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen quickly took to social media: “This verdict proves that the thugs set fire and blood to the suburb for pleasure and not because of police misconduct,” she remarked, returning to the topic after the numerous criticisms she faced: “I disturbed the delicate sensibilities of the Republic because I called the rioters ‘thugs.’ The term seemed quite appropriate to me,” she reiterated.
In the contest against the far-right candidate in the PACA regional elections, Christian Estrosi couldn’t afford to be outflanked on his right and in a televised interview, he immediately claimed that the two teenagers, who died in an electrical substation while fleeing the police, were “delinquents.”
“The families should raise their children and ensure they aren’t delinquents,” he admonished, positioning himself as a defender of public virtue.
In reality, the two teenagers were on foot when fleeing from the police and had committed no offense.
In fact, it was the UMP candidate who was “speeding” in his thinking: he simply got it wrong by referring to a different case.
The blunder did not go unnoticed and received heavy commentary.
Xavier Garcia, the federal secretary of PS06, said: “While the court decision must be respected, it is no reason to rekindle the families’ pain by engaging in an indecent one-upmanship with Marion Maréchal-Le Pen over this matter. By constantly trying to outdo each other on their right, the two of them are turning the regional campaign into a contest of verbal slip-ups.”
It is known that the electoral campaign will play out between the two favorite candidates without excluding underhanded tactics, and there will be an escalation to attract an electorate with fascist leanings.
Are we mistaken by expecting the candidates’ programs rather than witnessing a sequence of mutual invectives?
