France's Macron blames state for fueling extremism
November 15, 2017
The French president has announced a massive policy overhaul for the country's poorest neighborhoods. Poor, urban suburbs have become breeding grounds for radicalization.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced his plan to overhaul France's poorest neighborhoods at Clichy-sous-Bois, a neighborhood which once erupted in violent protests against isolation and discriminationImage: picture-alliance/MAXPPP/Hamilton
Advertisement
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday unveiled a series of new social and economic policies for the country's poorest neighborhoods. Macron partly blamed the French state for contributing to the rise of homegrown extremism by abandoning low income areas.
In the suburbs of France's biggest cities, including Paris, low-income neighborhoods dominated by housing projects have highlighted the state's inability to integrate generations of migrants and stimulate economic livelihood.
"In these neighborhoods we have closed schools, cut aid for the oldest and youngest, and other groups have arrived touting solutions for all of that," Macron said, referring to ultra-conservative Islamic associations. "Radicalization took root because the state checked out."
In 2005, violent protests against isolation and discrimination erupted in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, a "banlieue" marked by the French state's failure to meet the needs of the country's poorest neighborhoodsImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Spingler
Macron's plans to tackle the root cause of social and economic isolation, include overhauling funding for public housing, expanding child care, improving public transport links and offering subsidies to companies that hire youth from targeted areas.
Earlier that year, al-Qaeda operatives staged an attack on the offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket, while another IS supporter drove a lorry into a crowd of revelers commemorating France's Bastille Day in 2016, killing 86 people.
According to Laurent Nunez, who heads France's domestic intelligence agency, nearly 18,000 people in the country have been placed on radicalism watch lists – and that number is growing.
France's new anti-terror law explained
French president, Emmanuel Macron has decided to implant into ordinary French law many of the provisions of the state of emergency signed by his predecessor Francois Hollande after terror attacks in November 2015.
Image: REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
Restriction of movement
People with links to terrorist organizations can be forbidden from leaving their town or city of residence and required to report to police. They can also be banned from specified places. This is a toning down of the emergency law, which allowed partial house arrest. Its provisions were used not just against suspected terrorists, but also to ban suspected radical leftists from demonstrations.
Image: Reuters/Ch. Platiau
House searches
Authorities will be able to carry out searches of homes, but only to prevent acts of terrorism. In contrast to the emergency powers, searches must first be approved by a judge. Of the 3,600 house searches carried out in the seven months after the state of emergency came into effect, only six resulted in terrorism-related criminal proceedings, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/L. Notarianni
Closing places of worship
Authorities retain the power to close places of worship where extremist ideas are propagated, including promoting hatred or discrimination, as well as inciting violence or supporting acts of terrorism. Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, has complained the law did not go far enough in combating the "Islamist ideology that is waging war on us."
Image: REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
Identity checks around ports and airports
Security forces can check the identity of people within a 10-kilometre radius of ports and international airports. The government's original draft bill proposed a 20-kilometre radius. Le Monde calculated this would have covered 67 per cent of the French population, including 36 of the country's largest 39 cities. Unlike the other powers, this one will not expire automatically in 2020.
Image: Reuters/B. Tessier
Security perimeters around events
This continues emergency powers under which security forces can search property and frisk persons at and near major public events that could be targeted by terrorists.
Other provisions include a civil servant working in an area related to security or defence can be transferred or dismissed if he or she is found to hold radical opinions. Soldiers can also be discharged for similar motives.
