Calls for Justice on French Streets Echo Across Europe

On Jul 1, 2023

As protests over the police shooting of a 17-year-old continue, 45,000 police officers in France made 1,311 arrests during another night of unrest and demonstrations.

The unfortunate victim’s mother told France 5 today that the policeman who shot her child “saw a little Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life.” This statement set off this week’s violent protests. A police officer cannot point a gun at our kids and shoot them, taking their lives.

Thousands of French protesters who have kept up their pressure on the French government to demand justice for the Algerian boy share that opinion. Marseille, Paris, and other cities where the country’s poor neighborhoods, the banlieues, have erupted in outrage over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel, saw streets in disarray due to clashes between police and protesters.

Large public events in Paris have been postponed due to the ongoing protests, and those in charge of the nation’s renowned Tour de France cycling competition will probably need to make adjustments in light of the current situation on the country’s streets.

A European issue

Politicians from all over Europe are likely concerned about the ongoing unrest in France because the continent’s disenfranchised populations have become a potential powder keg for populist politics and decades of rising xenophobia and islamophobia, fueled by economic hardship.

Sweden sparked its own controversy by allowing the public burning of the Quran close to local Muslim communities who were celebrating Eid al Adha, one of the most significant religious festivals in Islam, as demonstrations raged in France. Morocco and other nations with a large Muslim population have denounced the Swedish decision.

Hijabs are now prohibited for police officers in the Netherlands, undermining years of efforts to build a more inclusive and diverse police force. The measure effectively prevents the majority of the nation’s Muslim women from pursuing a career in law enforcement even though it also forbids Christian crosses to be worn by police officers while they are on duty.

increasing demand for foreign labor

The growing disparities between native-born Europeans and Europeans with immigrant backgrounds contrast sharply with the EU’s expanding demand for foreign labor, which is frequently actively sourced from the Muslim world. As the population of the bloc ages, there is an increasing demand for young talent to work in hospitals, nursing homes, and a range of other private sector businesses.

While European nations entice North African medical and technical graduates to come work in the north with a variety of benefits and job guarantees, the current domestic political climate seems unsuitable to properly welcome the youth Europe needs to import.

A recent GIS report highlights that both Germany and France are making it easier for people to immigrate, as long as they have the skills the country needs. “EU member states will increasingly introduce policies to reduce illegal immigration while adapting migrant flows to specific economic needs,” the report’s conclusion reads.

Due to Europe’s current situation, politicians are desperately trying to replace their aging populations with young foreign talent in order to maintain domestic industries while simultaneously attempting to feed the increasingly common xenophobia among their voter base. Without a change and a more receptive attitude toward the various cultures from which these employees originate, the current tensions in France risk spreading to the rest of Europe.