ON Saturday, July 1, 2023, a large crowd gathered inside and around the Ibn Badis Mosque in Nanterre, where a 17-year-old boy, Nahel M, was mourned and then later buried.

Nahel M, of Algerian and Tunisian heritage, was shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop. It was clear that the police officer had not acted in self-defence but had shot the young man in cold blood. A wave of outrage swept through the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron sent out the security forces to stem the protests, which inflamed the protesters whose anger at the police is at very high levels. Antipathy toward the police was confirmed by the language of the police unions (Alliance Police Nationale and UNSA), who called the protestors “vermin” and “savage hordes” and said that “it’s no longer enough to call for calm; it must be imposed.” This is an act of war by the French police against the French population who come from France’s former colonies.