ANGLICAN communities in France escaped damage when riots erupted after a teenager was killed by police in a Paris suburb; but they were disturbed by how easily latent frustrations spilled over into violence, the Chaplain in Marseille has said.
“This has been a sad and difficult time, reminding us that, when something starts locally, all the major cities are likely to get caught up in it,” the Chaplain of All Saints’, Marseille, the Revd Jamie Johnston, said. “At a time of tension, it doesn’t take very much to provoke this sort of reaction — just as it did during Britain’s week of troubles back in 2011.”
Fr Johnston spoke as clean-up work continued after six nights of nationwide violence. The riots broke out when Nahel Merzouk, aged 17, was shot dead in a Mercedes-AMG by a police officer during a traffic stop in Nanterre, on Tuesday of last week.
All Saints’ had been spared damage, during which 40,000 police officers were employed, Fr Johnston told the Church Times. There had been no evident downturn in the “warm welcome” traditionally accorded to Anglicans in Marseille and other areas, he said.
“A few people decided not to come to church on Sunday, out of concern about the level of violence near by, but I haven’t heard, fortunately, of anyone being caught up directly.”
He continued: “Marseille itself is a complex city, with areas of high urban deprivation, and there have been problems here. But it’s also extraordinarily resilient, with a very strong community spirit.”
More than 700 police were injured, and up to 4000 protesters were arrested, many of them minors, after videos of Mr Merzouk’s shooting were shared on social media. More than 5000 vehicles were set alight, and at least 1000 shops, banks, and other properties were damaged.
In a prayer message at the weekend, the country’s Bishops’ Conference urged a “return to calm and peace”, and asked God’s help for those whose homes and workplaces had been wrecked, as well as for French society as it sought to “identify clearly the sources of violence and find means for overcoming it”.
In a joint appeal, the Conference of Leaders of Worship in France (CRCF) said that it shared the pain of Mr Merzouk’s family, and understood the “suffering and anger” provoked by his death.
It said that faith communities would uphold their longstanding commitment to “harmony and fraternity”, while demanding that France’s “rulers and elected representatives” work together responsibly to restore “justice and peace”.
The Conference — which is chaired by a Muslim, Mohammed Moussaoui, and includes heads of the RC, Orthodox, and Protestant Churches, as well as Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist leaders — said: “We deeply deplore the destruction of schools, shops, town halls, and means of transport — the first to suffer the consequences are precisely the inhabitants, families and children of these neighbourhoods.
“In these difficult times, we call for safeguarding and consolidating the necessary bond of trust between the population and forces of order, who have given so much during these hardships.”
Meeting on Tuesday in the Élysée Palace with about 250 mayors from municipalities affected by the disturbances, which spread to neighbouring Belgium and Switzerland, as well as to France’s overseas territories, President Macron said that he believed that the peak of violence had now passed, and pledged “total support” for the restoration of order.
Several countries, including the UK and the United States, have warned their nationals to stay away from violence-affected areas, however; and the United Nations Human Rights Office urged France, in a statement, to address “deep-rooted issues of racism and racial discrimination” among its police, who killed 13 people during traffic patrols last year — double the number in 2021.
In a weekend letter, the Bishop-in-Charge of the Convocation of (US) Episcopal Churches in Europe, the Rt Revd Mark Edington, said that the death of the Algerian-Moroccan Mr Merzouk was “just the latest telling of a tragic story” common to many countries: “a young man of colour, an encounter with police, a gunshot, and a needless, unjustifiable death”.
It also signified, he told Episcopalian congregations, “a growing estrangement between society and those given the authority to be its guardians”, who were often “taught to be afraid — of the other, the person of colour, the foreigner, the refugee. Fear is the beguiling serpent justifying the choice of a life-destroying path.
“White supremacy is many things, but it is at least this: the indulgence, on a vast societal scale, of a long-inherited, generationally transmitted and legally buttressed fear — a sickly, desperate fear so seductive that it masquerades as righteousness and poses as wisdom. . .
“If the Church is to stand as a witness against hatred, to offer a path out of the fears that divide our societies and lie at the bitter root of systems of supremacy and injustice, then it must not just speak but enact the love it teaches.”
Fr Johnston said that he was grateful for Bishop Edington’s reminder that “all people are equally worthy of dignity” and “stamped with the indelible image of the divine”, which applied especially “at a time of great tension”.
He said that he had been impressed by the close ecumenical relations between faith communities in his own city, and was grateful for the way in which Churches had worked together on migration and other issues. “In these complex times, I think the role of churches is to be places of hope and reconciliation, doing all they can to welcome those coming to them and provide a perspective beyond immediate flashpoints.”
Fr Johnston was ordained after working for three decades as a lawyer, and began his French mission in 2019 after serving in the diocese of London.
“If we look at local level, there are many initiatives to promote reconciliation, despite the challenges. Time and again I’ve encountered a positive community spirit here.”
French media reported that the police officer who fired the lethal shot remained in custody by midweek, charged with homicide in the wake of the riots, which were the second wave to hit the country this year after violent spring protests against President Macron’s state-pension reforms.