An Ipsos poll has revealed that 70 per cent of the French public believe France is becoming more violent and “savage” and support the use of a controversial term to describe the phenomenon.
The poll noted that when the results were broken down by political affiliation, it was the supporters of President Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche! (LREM) who most agreed with the use of the term “ensauvagement” at 85 per cent, followed by the populist National Rally (RN) at 83 per cent.
On the other end of the political spectrum, just 47 per cent of supporters of the far-left France Insoumise (FI) agreed with the use of the term, French legal aid platform Avostart said in their report.
The platform notes that the term, which described the savaging or the descent into a more savage society, has been used since at least 1999 and was recently used by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin to describe growing levels of lawlessness and delinquency in certain areas of the country.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen has used the term for years and again invoked the problems of lawlessness during a party speech over the weekend in the southern commune of Fréjusin.
Le Pen said the growing violence was “a consequence of the anarchic and uncontrolled immigration imposed on the French for decades”. She added it was from “a multicultural society that was also imposed on the French that this violence has sprouted”.
“I reaffirm without any ambiguity that many people of immigrant origin who love France and have adopted our social codes are the first victims of these criminal acts. The state must help and protect everyone, French or immigrant,” she added.
Violence in various no-go neighbourhoods has been rampant since the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus. Many riots and attacks on police officers have taken place during the lockdown and after the government eased measures.
According to French professor of Criminology Alain Bauer, the level of homicides and attempted homicides in France in 2019 was the highest in recent history.
“Ten years ago, criminal organisations were afraid of security services’ power in France. Today, they dare to challenge it. But this crumbling is not the most worrying,” Bauer said and added: “It is the inability to deal with ordinary, daily, and repetitive violence.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.