No, it’s not the hero of the television series “Dallas,” nor even the late President of the United States who are going to give us their opinions on the situation in the suburbs, but our local JFK and JR are Jean-François Knecht, city councilor and general councilor, and Jérôme Rivière, Deputy of the first district of Nice.
The former is one of the leaders of the united left in Nice, while the latter represents the colors of the UMP in Nice and the Niçoise colors in the National Assembly.
Each of them shares their views on urban violence, on the curfew, on the state of emergency, on the withdrawal of family benefits, and especially on what their solutions would be to make these areas better places to live.
Gentlemen, it’s your turn…
Franck Viano
Nice Première: What are your thoughts on the current urban violence?
Jean-François Knecht: I’m not surprised. The sense of abandonment is real among the population of the affected neighborhoods. It seems to me that, through the expressions of anger from the youth, we must see two things:
– These youths, who are overwhelmingly French, have embraced the spirit of the Republic: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. In this sense, J. Chirac is right in saying that they are children of the Republic.
– These same youths are demanding its concrete application, for themselves but also for their parents.
Jérôme Rivière: I do not think it’s a matter of despair as some would like to portray, but rather acts of relative gratuitousness, like in a huge game of cat and mouse.
If the situation has deteriorated in this way, it’s because despite a strong security discourse over the last 3 years, we have not set up all the necessary means to make these goals believable. When a young offender was sentenced to 1 month in prison for setting a vehicle on fire, it wasn’t deterrent enough.
Beyond words, our majority had to prove that we prioritize respect for the rule of law. With the implementation of the Law of April 3, 1955 the means employed are finally used effectively.
NP: Do you think the curfew could provide an effective and especially sustainable solution?
JR: Effective certainly, as I just explained. Sustainable depends on what you mean by that term. Yes, if it’s about maintaining the framework for a return to the rule of law. No, if after the return to calm it became a method to control neighborhoods. Yet, I wonder why a young minor is out on the streets after midnight on weekdays…
JFK: The decision to invoke the law of 1955 is heavily loaded with implications and refers to a dark era in our history. As for the technical measure itself, while it could be defended the first time during a crisis, its continuation for 3 months has no justification. Only the escalation of security measures and the propaganda that goes with it can explain this.
It’s an insult to reason, seeing mayors demand the continuation of the curfew and, therefore, the mobilization of security personnel, in places that have no need for it, like in Mougins.
NP: What would your solutions be to this thorny problem?
JFK: The problem is largely economic. The population is suffering, and not just in the neighborhoods where difficulties are concentrated.
For 3 years, our population has continued to express this. It’s the whole challenge of the next Socialist Party congress. It must determine what line to follow and provide a start to responses and hope for this suffering.
JR: Whatever the problems these suburban populations are facing – and they are real – nothing justifies these acts of violence. Some intellectuals and sociologists explain on television, the same one that over-mediatizes these violences, that they are responses to the migration pressure which France struggles to deal with, to education giving up, to the failure of integration, to urban isolation, meaning the ghettoization of neighborhoods, to racial discrimination, etc.
I do not believe for a moment that all these hooded hooligans acted to defend a segment of the population that really suffers from poverty, lack of education, decent housing, work. These gangs are organized; they smash and burn at random, challenging the republican order. What interests them is to maintain their traffic, their territory.
Enough! Stop to law-free zones. Thousands of cars and dozens of buses burned, shops destroyed, primary schools, and colleges vandalized. Do we even realize the cost of these actions, which the French will have to bear, generally and more particularly their victims?
In reference to the riots that have been ongoing since October 27, they are the result of our inability to collectively but clearly express our identity and affirm the future we wish for our country.
I remain convinced that a majority of our citizens is ready to react with the motto of our Republic in mind but without any false compassion for those who above all deserve the wrath of the law.
Finally, we must be effective in our fight against illegal immigration still far too prevalent. This illegal immigration settles in these troubled neighborhoods making the task of integration increasingly difficult: a sort of bottomless pit.
NP: In your opinion, should the state of emergency be prolonged?
JR: Yes, of course, as long as the state of law is not restored, no sign of weakness should be shown. Neither our citizens nor the police would understand otherwise, and it is not possible to do anything in this atmosphere of violence. Finally, let’s not forget that this exceptional law is applied because citizens, police officers, gendarmerie soldiers, firefighters, doctors on mission have been seriously harmed physically.
