France riots: A youth told us, in the most blunt terms possible, that we weren’t welcome
There are the three things that have come to illuminate the night sky in Nanterre – blue lights, orange flames and the starburst of fireworks.
For the first couple of nights, it was the fireworks and flames that seemed to dominate here. The police, already wildly unpopular among many in the district, were outnumbered, pelted with rocks and seemingly unable to take control.
That’s why the number of officers being on patrol went through the roof, rising from 9,000 to 40,000 in the space of 24 hours. It was an effort to wrestle back control but, from what we saw, it didn’t work.
You could certainly see a difference. Specialised SWAT teams were brought in along with armoured vehicles. Above Nanterre, a police helicopter looked down, training its searchlight.
But do they really control the streets? It doesn’t really feel like it.
We came to one junction last night and walked no more than a dozen paces down a road before being confronted by a group of young men. One of them, looking down at us from above, threatened us with rocks; another simply told us, in the most blunt terms possible, that we weren’t welcome and should get out straight away.
These are not idle threats. We know of four journalists who were attacked in Nanterre last night, and there may have been more.
Rioters in Paris following the fatal police shooting of a teenager
Read more: Tear gas and stun grenades won’t stop riots and protests as long as fear persists in Paris
The simple fact is that there is a central area that is effectively guarded by groups of men, with lookouts stationed at each access point. It’s no easy matter to get in and out, unscathed.
The police know that, too. Just a few minutes after we had been threatened, they arrived in numbers – dozens of officers in full riot kit, along with an armoured vehicle and the clatter of the helicopter overhead.
But their role wasn’t so much to arrest as to clear the area – to remove barricades and clear the way for firefighters to put out the blazes.
Read more: Why is there a history of rioting in France’s suburbs?
So, for all the manpower they had, the unit we saw was effectively acting as bodyguards for the firefighters. When the blazes were extinguished, so the firefighters moved on to the next call, and the police went with them.
And what happened next was that the same groups of young men returned to the same corners and took up their positions as lookouts and guards. The wave had passed and they were back in charge.
It is a curious game of cat and mouse, where the cat has all the equipment and power, but the mouse is nimble, remorseless and unafraid.
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March for teenager killed by French police
Across France, what we are seeing is disorder and violence that is rooted in an utter lack of respect, or fear, of the police, or of the normal symbols of authority.
We see snapshots that linger in the mind. A teenager unloading hockey sticks from the back of a car; a fire burning in the middle of a busy road, forcing cars to turn back; a man in a balaclava walking round with a long length of wood in his hand.
Police vans speeding in all directions; the remnants of tear gas canisters that litter streets scorched by fires.
The smell of burning seems to linger over so much of this district at the moment. The fire of anger and discontent that was lit by the killing of 17-year-old Nahel has grown rather than dying away.
Curfews may be the next step, but, in an atmosphere of such disregard for the law, how many will abide by them? More police? A state of emergency? Frankly, nobody knows.
Nanterre has had three nights of violence and conflict, and already this district is scarred. It’s easy to say that the disorder can’t just go on, but so far that’s exactly what has happened.
What France needs is a solution, a balm for the pain. But right now, it doesn’t seem to have one.
Banned from Eurovision after its invasion of Ukraine, Russia will hold a rival international song contest on Saturday, with an emphasis on “traditional values”.
Instead of camp, think conservative – patriotic pop with a PG-rating.
“Intervision” was launched under the order of Vladimir Putin, with the hope it would serve as an expression of Moscow’s international pulling power.
Intervision decorations in Red Square, Moscow, ahead of the contest
There are contestants from 23 countries, which are a mixture of Russia’s allies old and new, including Belarus, Cuba and Tajikistan as well as China, India and Saudi Arabia.
The odd one out is the United States, who’ll be represented by an artist called “Vassy”. She’s not part of an official delegation, but an American voice is still a coup for the Kremlin, which will seek to use this contest as proof of the West’s failure to isolate Russia on the global stage.
‘War whitewash’
Intervision is not entirely new. It was originally launched in the 1960s as an instrument of Soviet soft power, before largely fading from view in the 1980s.
According to Moscow, its revival has nothing to do with politics. But Ukraine has condemned it as propaganda, and an attempt to whitewash Russia’s war.
It was a point I put to some contestants after their final press conferences, but it didn’t go down well.
“We don’t think like that, we are here to spread peace,” India’s Rauhan Malik told me, when I asked if his participation was a show of support for Russia’s invasion.
Malik, one of the contestants
“Are you not turning a blind eye to Russia’s aggression?” I countered.
“I have no idea about it,” he said. “I have no idea about the current situation that’s happening. I don’t want to speak about that as well.”
Eurovision legends Abba would almost certainly not make the Russian contest guest list. Pic: AP
Really? He had no idea? But before I could go on, I felt a forceful hand on my shoulder and a minder stepped in.
The intervention was even quicker when it came to speaking to Brazil’s act. As soon as I mentioned the word Ukraine, I was drowned out by shouts of “no, no, no, no” and the duo were ushered away.
Brazilian contestants, duo Luciano Calazans and Thais Nader
Where’s the glitter?
Intervision is not just a reaction to Russia’s recent exclusion from Eurosivion, however, it’s also a reaction to the contest’s values and what it’s come to represent.
Its celebration of sexual diversity and LGBTQ+ rights are seen as a symbol of what the Kremlin calls the West’s moral decline. In contrast, Intervision organisers say their contest will promote “traditional, family values.”
Judging by the costumes on show ahead of last week’s draw, that translates to less glitter, more embroidery, with a thematic emphasis on national heritage.
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So what do Russians think of Intervision’s resurrection? Can it replace Eurovision?
“We don’t miss Eurovision,” Galina and Tatiana say, underneath a collection of purple and pink ‘Intervision’ flags near Red Square.
“It was so horrible, especially lately. We didn’t like watching it at all.”
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Why are countries boycotting Eurovision?
Polina agrees, believing Russia’s version will be “more interesting”.
“Many countries that participated in Eurovision want to boycott it, so it’s interesting to see a more peaceful event now,” she says.
Igor is more circumspect. “I’d like to believe that this isn’t a political event,” he says, “but rather an event that unites nations and people.”
Intervision will succeed in uniting some nations. But at the same time, it may only deepen divisions with others – further evidence that Russia and the West are singing very different tunes.
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