A number of leftist groups, including political parties and trade unions, have signed a letter declaring the anger that led to the widespread riots over the last week in France is “legitimate.”
The letter, which is signed by the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) trade union, the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, Revolutionary Feminists, the Communist Party of Workers of France, and many others, claims the riots are an expression of “legitimate anger”.
Published on the Bondy Blog website, a blog formed after the 2005 Paris riots and catering toward the highly migrant-populated suburbs of France, the letter states that such areas are on the “front line” of the coronavirus outbreak.
“Racist discrimination, already unbearable, is reinforced by police impunity and violence and humiliation are increasing… We can add the discriminatory curfew imposed on the inhabitants of these neighbourhoods by the city of Nice,” the letter states.
“Inequalities and discrimination must be vigorously fought and abolished… we will take part in this just fight for equality, justice, and dignity,” they added.
Bondy Blog has previously been criticised by historian Guylain Chevrier following the “Theo Affair” in 2017 that saw widespread riots in and around Paris after a black male named Theo claimed police has brutally beat him and purposely inserted a baton into his rectum.
Mr Chevrier accused Bondy Blog of “pushing for violence” and said the site “systematically supports urban violence, disorders, whatever their causes, against police around which we cultivate hatred and through it, that of the State, of the Republic.”
The latest riots to spread across France began over the past weekend and have continued for several days with a number of police and firefighters attacked by youths in so-called “vulnerable” areas in towns and cities across the country despite strict lockdown measures to halt the spread of the Chinese coronavirus.