France riots sparked by lack of respect to authorities, not migrants: Police chief

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) – The unrest in France sparked by a lack of respect to the authorities, rather than migrants, according to the Paris police chief.

"I think we cannot summarize all of this with immigration and security issues. We are facing in our country an authority crisis, we cannot deny this," Laurent Nunez told French radio RMC on Thursday.

"We cannot reduce all those issues to security even migration," Nunez said. "This is an authority crisis issue that does not affect only the national police."

He added: "I noticed that more and more people disrespect even flout any kind of authority, and not only that of the police."

The police chief urged that stigmatizing a specific group of population should be stopped.

Protests erupted in France at the end of last month when a police officer fatally shot and killed Nahel M., a 17-year-old of Algerian descent, during a traffic check in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, reportedly after he ignored orders to stop.

Following Nahel's killing, thousands of people took to the streets in France.

Vehicles and public buildings, including town halls and schools, were set on fire, and according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, approximately 4,000 people were arrested, mostly teenagers.

*Nur Asena Erturk from Ankara contributed to this story.