Echoes of Floyd murder in France upheaval

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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France has been in turmoil since last week's police shooting of a 17-year-old boy, Nahel Merzouk.

While the world shudders at what video suggests was a senseless killing, as well as the equally senseless destruction of Nahel's neighborhood — and beyond — Minnesotans are likely viewing the news from France through the lens of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis and the violent events that followed in 2020.

Like the incident in Minneapolis, the initial police account was contradicted by a bystander video shot on a cellphone that exposed a false official narrative. And as in Minneapolis, the video — and anger — went viral, sending thousands into the streets to protest, sometimes destructively. And in both cases, the victims' background — Floyd was a Black man, and Merzouk was of Moroccan-Algerian descent — reflected a broader grievance of unequal police treatment and inequality.

While protests after Floyd's killing went national, even international, most of the destruction was localized along Lake Street and other areas of Minneapolis. Not so in France, where protests have turned violent beyond Nanterre, the Parisian suburb where Merzouk lived (in the Pablo Picasso district, to be specific, where events seemed as far as possible from the ethos of the artist's iconic "Dove of Peace" painting).

Neighborhoods in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Strasbourg were looted and burned as the country convulsed over Merzouk's killing. In an especially disturbing incident, a car in flames was rammed into the home of the mayor of L'Haÿ-les-Roses, a Paris suburb, injuring the mayor's wife and one of his children. The assault was a new level of "horror and ignominy," Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun rightly stated.

The internal crisis has international implications for French President Emmanuel Macron. He canceled a state visit to Germany, which would have been the first by a French president in 23 years, and if the unrest endures it could jeopardize his participation in the annual NATO Summit next week in Vilnius, Lithuania. Domestically it deepens the political siege surrounding Macron, who was already reeling from widespread protests after he decided to raise France's retirement age.

The widening crisis symbolizes the global nature of inequality and allegations of unequal policing. Minneapolis and the U.S. are not unique in needing to reckon with the role of race in society; most multiethnic countries struggle with some version of the problem. And as seen here at home and now in France, a police killing can spark protests that can engulf a city, and in France's case, well beyond.

While this city and state made many mistakes in the case of George Floyd, it did eventually and successfully pursue justice, with all the officers involved found guilty to varying degrees. The unidentified officer involved in Merzouk's killing faces a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide. His attorney has said that the officer is "devastated" and has a different account of the incident.