Cost of riots in France amounts to US $ 305 million, according to insurers

French insurers have so far received about 5,900 claims worth a total of about 280 million euros ($305 million) as a result of damage caused during a week of riots after a policeman shot a teenager.

This compares with 10,000 claims for a cost of 205 million euros during serious riots in late 2005, he said on Tuesday. Florence Lustmannpresident of the French federation of insurers French Assurersat a financial forum held in Paris.

The Finance Minister, Bruno Le Mairepreviously said insurers agreed to extend the timeframe for storeowners to file claims for damages resulting from violence from five to 30 days and would consider lowering claim deductibles for hard-hit independent businesses.

Macron is pronounced

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday before more than 300 mayors an urgent law to speed up repairs to thousands of businesses and buildings damaged in an outbreak of violence sparked last week by the death of a young man at the hands of the police.

The centrist president affirmed when receiving the mayors that it was “prudent” about the risk of an upsurge in violence, although he considered that “the peak we have seen in the last few days has already passed”.

The meeting took place when a de-escalation seems to be confirmed. On Monday night, there were 24 buildings damaged and 159 cars set on fire. The security forces detained 72 people and no officers were injured.

The riots broke out on the night of Tuesday, June 27, after the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old boy who was shot at point blank range by a policeman during a traffic control in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris. A video captured the moment.

Since then, police stations, schools and town halls have been burned down, shops looted and rockets fired at security forces. The drama brought the recurring debate over police violence in France back to the fore.

And the car attack over the weekend against the home of the mayor of Haÿ-les-Roses (south of Paris), the right-wing Vincent Jeanbrun, also highlighted the growing violence faced by public representatives.

urgent law

Although the analysis of the facts and the response are complex, Macron has already advanced that he will present an urgent law to repair the damage.

The government also said it was open to “cancel” the social and tax contributions for the businesses attacked. The French federation of insurers France Assureurs indicated that 5,800 claims were declared by individuals and professionals.

The political class still does not agree on the root of the outbreak of violence, as Macron confirmed during the meeting with the mayors.

The right and the extreme right call for a strong hand against the perpetrators of the riots but the left opposition also points to the controversial role of the police in the suburbs and the situation in these neighborhoods, among the poorest in France.

“The Republic need not apologize. He has already done a lot for these neighborhoods”, said the right-wing mayor of Meaux (north-east of Paris), Jean-François Copé. His Nanterre counterpart, Patrick Jarry (left), considered that tackling the police mission was “inescapable”.

The first proposals evoked by Macron in a visit on Monday to police officers are oriented towards the first option, mentioning the possibility of “penalize financially” to the families of the youths involved in the riots.

His Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, reminded the prosecution of the “criminal liability” of those who do not exercise parental authority, which can carry penalties of up to two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros (US$ 32,700).

“Repressive response”

“If the solution to all social conflicts is a repressive response by the State to restore order, it is very likely that violence will continue to increase.”, sociologist Denis Merklen, a specialist in the protests in the suburbs, told AFP.

The inhabitants of neighborhoods where “the state is omnipresent” managing transport or social housing feel “belittled” and “if they don’t rebel, they attract very little attention from the pressadded Merklen, from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.

In a week of unrest, 3,486 people were detained and 808 members of the security forces were injured, according to the Interior Ministry.

In addition, 5,892 vehicles were set on fire and 1,105 buildings and 269 police stations damaged, the same source indicated.

In Marseille, in the south, the prosecutor’s office announced that it had opened an investigation into the death of a 27-year-old man on Saturday night, suspecting that he may have been the victim of a cardiac arrest after being hit in the chest by a rubber ball. , known as a “flashball”, a projectile often used by the French police.

It is not clear if the deceased was participating in the protests or if he was just passing by.

Collection “of shame”

A far-right figure organized a fundraiser for the police officer who shot Nahel, raising more than 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) as of Tuesday night.

The initiative was branded as “collection of shame” by representatives of the left and the family of the young man who was killed filed a complaint against that initiative.

Another collection, for Nahel’s mother, had collected 395,600 euros (about US$430,700).

The anger of many suburban youth had already erupted in 2005, after the death by electrocution of two teenagers who were fleeing from the police.

With information from Bloomberg and AFP