France

In Marseilles’s quartiers nord, teenage drug dealers have one decision to make: wait or run. The boys seem to languish in this perpetual state of flux.

Seventeen-year-old Benze is a chouf — French for lookout. Dressed head to toe in black, hood pulled up, with rainbow-reflective ski glasses hiding half of his face, he looks as if he should be in the Alps. Instead, Benze cuts a small figure dwarfed by a 15-storey tower block. The building looms monstrous and frightening above the plastic and gravel debris at ground level. He describes his role as though reading out a contract: “You can do either half-time or full-time. Part-time is from 11am to 5pm and full-time is from 11am until 2am.”

The southern French cities of Nice and Béziers are imposing night-time curfews for children under 13 amid rising public concern over youth violence, which has become a national political issue.

There have been a series of recent assaults involving minors. Two teenagers were charged with beating a 22-year-old man to death last week in Grande-Synthe, a suburb of the northern city of Dunkirk. Three weeks ago a 15-year-old boy died after being attacked by youths on his way home from school in Viry-Châtillon, a Paris suburb.

It’s a mystery who deez yutes is.

On Friday, April 20th, the French capital was the scene of street violence from the Afghan community. While the trouble went unnoticed by the mainstream press, the nation’s Right condemned the wilful blindness of the national media.

Afghan immigrants spent two days over the weekend destroying Paris and causing an estimated loss of millions.

Not a single French politician has spoken out and condemned.

The biggest news companies did not cover or report on the story.

There were no police interventions. pic.twitter.com/rsxgKxS2fl

— Klaus Arminius (@Klaus_Arminius) April 22, 2024

France’s schools are once again under shock. The principal of Maurice Ravel high school in eastern Paris resigned from his position following online threats subsequent to a confrontation with a student who refused to remove her hijabs while on school grounds, as required by the law.

The French have read this script before. In 2020, a young Chechen individual tragically took the life of the teacher Samuel Paty after the former had shared a cartoon of Muhammad during a discussion on freedom of speech. Previously, one of his students provided a highly provocative version of events to her parents, who then informed their neighbours, fellow believers, and local provocateurs. They labelled Paty an “Islamophobe,” putting a target on his back. The young Chechen came across the controversy and decided to take the matter into his own hands.