On 27 June 2023, a police officer in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France, pulled over Nahel Merzouk, a young man with ancestry in North Africa. After an altercation, the police officer shot Nahel dead. Residents started a protest outside the police headquarters on 27 June. Video footage revealed the police officer shot Nahel as he was driving off. The video surveillance disproves the officer shot Nahel in self-defence as the officer stated. As soon as the video footage aired many protests escalated into rioting as demonstrators set cars alight, destroyed bus stops, and shot fireworks at police.
The twelve days of burning cars and warlike streets have shocked France and the world. Police brutality is often synonymous with the U.S., but it is an issue in French society. The combination of immigration and ghettoization of suburbs breeds racism, especially in the French ghettos known as ‘banlieue’. Banlieues are large working-class suburbs that straddle big French cities like Paris and Lyon. These suburbs are home to many immigrant communities, both legal and illegal. Infested with violence, unemployment and despair the banlieues hide the massive problems within French society.
As a society, France does not like to acknowledge racism. Race-based statistics are not kept in France at all. While the idea of race blindness is great without the evidence showing the dramatically different lifestyles for those of a different colour France will continue to see disproportionate violence in its nonwhite communities. If the nation is serious about stopping violence by police or citizens then it needs to deal with the banlieues.
Banlieues for you, Paris for me
France is a beautiful country. Its capital Paris is one of the most visited places on Earth, with well-manicured streets and cozy cafés everywhere. Visitors to the country could be there for months and not realize what the real France looks like. The Real France is often in these banlieues.
Banlieue poverty and immigration in France are closely intertwined issues that have plagued the country for decades. These areas predominantly house immigrants and their descendants, creating a complex dynamic where marginalization and exclusion intersect with cultural diversity. The roots of this issue can be traced back to the post-war period when waves of immigrants from former French colonies were recruited to fill labour shortages.
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