French riots have unleashed racism and Islamophobia on social media

French people have been rioting for the last five nights after police shot and killed a teenager in Paris. Sadly, many people on social media have found a way to frame the events in a racist light, blaming migrants for the unrest or celebrating police brutality against ethnic minorities.

The shooting of 17-year-old Nahel M, who had Algerian and Moroccan parents, has reignited long standing grievances among poor and ethnically mixed communities in France about racism and violence among the country’s police forces.

It has also sparked wider anger in France’s poorest neighbourhoods over politicians' perceived lack of will or ability to tackle stark inequalities which have become deeply embedded in society, and which are often drawn along ethnic and class-based lines.

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Clearly, it is a complex situation, and the rioting has led to burning public buildings, thousands of arrests and hundreds of injuries to both civilians and police. However, some people on social media have proven unable – or unwilling – to see the nuance.

As more police were deployed in recent nights, some have shared videos of officers violently accosting protestors, who in many cases are people of colour. Some videos show police knocking people off motorbikes, dragging people to the floor and beating them up. Many show officers pointing guns at unarmed civilians. These posts have often been accompanied with celebratory comments, or worse, derogatory racist terms in reference to protestors.

Others have suggested that the French government has fallen, which is fake news. Some have posted images of buildings on fire, explosions or damage to public infrastructure. The one thing many of these posts have in common is that they blame migrants, or pro-immigration policies in the European Union.

As hatred spread across social media, Nahel was buried on Saturday. Friends and family attended a private funeral at Nanterre, near where the child was killed. A crowd gathered outside the local mosque and followed the coffin the the ceremony chanting: “Justice for Nahel.”

A 38-year-old police officer has been put under investigation – the French equivalent of being charged – for voluntary homicide. Nahel’s death was the third fatal shooting by police during traffic stops in the country this year, and the 21st since 2020. Most of the victims have been of black or north African origin, according to Reuters.

Many people on Twitter have called out the racist commenters for what they are. Roshan Salih, editor of British Muslim news site 5Pillars, said: “France is a racist and Islamophobic nation. The current riots are an inevitable expression of anger and frustration by the oppressed.”

Syrian-British journalist Richard Medhurst said: “You have racists in France saying: ‘They are burning cars because they are African’. Same thing in the US during George Floyd protests. How come they care more about property than someone’s life? It’s simple: if you don’t want unrest, stop killing people.”

Muslim social media influencer Fatima Barkatulla, meanwhile, responded to a tweet by Elon Musk – ever the paragon of measured, empathetic social commentary – where the Twitter chief executive said burning libraries, as has happened in Marseille, was “sacrilege”.

She said: “Killing our sons is a greater sacrilege. France has been a heavy handed, brutal country in colonial times towards its Muslim/North African colonies. And continues to be oppressive towards them as citizens today.”

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