Perhaps the most depressing aspect of the death this week of the French teenager Nahel M in Nanterre is its familiarity. A man or boy of north African descent dies after contact with the police. A misleading or downright false account from officers casts blame on the victim. Outrage sparks protests and violence.
The unrest that has swept French cities speaks not to the shock of those involved, but their anger and despair that this is still happening. Not only police stations but schools, cars, tramways and town halls were attacked or torched in cities including Lille, Dijon, Lyon and Toulouse as well as the Paris suburbs. On Thursday, after Emmanuel Macron held a crisis cabinet meeting, 40,000 officers were deployed across the country.
