With two months to go before the European elections, the French extreme right is trying to exploit in its favor the recent episodes of brutality among teenagers, blaming President Emmanuel Macron and his Government for pursuing a policy of laxity and lack of authority, since years ago, which makes these dramas possible.
The death of a 15-year-old boy after being beaten on Thursday as he was leaving school in Viry-Châtillon, south of Paris, and the attack on a 14-year-old girl in Montpellier have given rise to the Marine Le Pen’s party, the National Reunification (RN), reinforces its criticism of the Head of State and his Government, and presents itself as the party that can restore a minimum of security and order in the country.
After the death of young Shamseddine, brutally beaten to the head, was made public, Le Pen tweeted that “deadly madness knows no bounds” and wondered: “When will the Government take action on this wild drift that is corroding society? “. Yesterday, in a talk on BFMTV, the RN spokesman, deputy Philippe Ballard, outlined a catastrophic scenario stating that “it is a State that has been collapsing for years”. The parliamentarian proposed tougher penalties and lowering the criminal age.
The RN prominently leads the European polls, in which the issues of security and immigration benefit it. Also the traditional right, Els Republicans (LR), does not hesitate to exploit the situation. The ideological porosity with the extreme right has been evidence for some time, to the point of using the same language. The president of LR, Eric Ciotti, wondered about “how many victims are needed to react seriously” to “the explosion of violence”.
After the arrest of five people – four of them minors – related to the beating of Shamseddine, and the long interrogations, no solid hypothesis has yet been leaked about the reason for the attack. There is a version circulating that it could be, in its origin, a love dispute, but there is no official confirmation. According to other students, the victim was a student without problems who got along with everyone. The hint of a vendetta between rival gangs is unlikely.
The mayor of Viry-Châtillon, the centrist Jean-Marie Vilain, was very affected by the events, did not avoid sobbing in front of the cameras and said that he expects “a punishment commensurate with this act”. Meanwhile, the prefect of the department of Essone decreed a reinforced police surveillance, even though the school holidays have started. Psychological support for Shamseddine’s classmates will continue during the two non-teaching weeks.
With regard to Tuesday’s attack on the 14-year-old Samara in Montpellier, which left the girl badly injured, it is not clear what the motive was or how important an alleged reproach to the victim was for not dressing or acting like a true Muslim. Three minors have been formally charged with “attempted voluntary homicide”.
There is no doubt, however, that social networks can exacerbate the phenomenon of school bullying. Before the age of the internet, these behaviors used to stop when students left the educational center or its surroundings. Now the harassment can go on permanently, twenty-four hours a day, with messages, photos and insults that circulate among the students and that further poison the atmosphere and can lead to tragedies.
