The unsightly side of France

France is not only about amazing architecture, ambiance and a glass of red with a slice of cheese.

This is just its glossy, touristy side.

And there is another, unsightly, which is little talked about, even less shown.

Because it's hard to shoot.

Over the past week, I have been anxiously monitoring the health of photojournalist Christian Lantenois of the daily L'Union, who was beaten in a suburb of Reims when he arrived on an editorial assignment in a bad neighborhood.

They attacked him in the parking lot, did not have time to reach the car.

They began to beat him with iron bars, then, having already fallen, several teenagers beat him on the head with a broken camera so that the 65-year-old reporter ended up dying in a hospital in a coma.

I read about him and thought how many times we have all found ourselves in similar unpleasant situations.

Probably luck helped out.

For example, here is the story of my colleagues.

Back in 2005, they drove in the afternoon to the suburb of Paris, Clichy-sous-Bois, when they burned cars there all day long after the death of two teenagers who hid from the police in a transformer box.

It was deserted outside, the operator was adjusting the camera by placing it on his shoulder (then they were still large, heavy), when suddenly someone from behind with all his might pushed the camera forward, it fell on the asphalt, crashed, parts flew off.

The reporter bent down to collect, but 25 people with cobblestones came out of the narrow passage between the houses to meet them and began to throw stones at them.

They managed to escape, unlike their colleague from Reims, the car took off and rushed through the yards.

In the same area, they ran into firefighters and asked for directions to the police station.

They waved their hand down the street and sighed: "He is there, but he was burned last night."

I remember how, already in my presence, the police kept the same plot in a ring in another suburb, when an angry crowd tried to set it on fire for the fact that one of the law enforcement officers fined a woman who covered her face with a handkerchief during the day.

There was an incident on the outskirts of Strasbourg, we filmed burned-out cars the morning after the New Year.

A couple of minutes later we heard shouts from high-rise buildings with details of the reprisals awaiting us.

I had to do everything extremely quickly and leave.

In Marseille, we were chased on motorcycles, knocked on the car, tried to tear off the mirror.

In such areas, a person who takes out a camera or takes pictures with a mobile phone is perceived as an enemy.

The same attitude towards the police. 

Over the years, it seems to me, the geography of such bad places has expanded significantly.

Urban violence and unrest have become a common part of life in France.

In Marseille, shootings happen almost daily, last week they also detained a man who was repeatedly convicted of drug trafficking and robbery; he was walking around a Jewish school with a 20-centimeter knife.

They said they were crazy, they took me to the hospital.

The city itself is actually a good port, I really like it, but it is considered the criminal capital of the country.

And now other settlements are ready to take this title away from him. 

The same Reims or Nantes, where, due to showdowns between gangs, hospitals are regularly replenished with people with gunshot wounds.  

This week it was generally hot everywhere: in Noisier, police were fired at with fireworks, in Beauvais, riots continued for several days, in Rilleu-la-Pape, cars were burned during a showdown between gangs, it was restless in Amiens, cars were burning in Lyon after 13 a summer teenager without a license and without a helmet had an accident on a stolen moped.

The spy decided that the police were to blame, began to beat public transport stops, the locals tried to pacify the youth, but they had to call for help: they sent experienced gendarmes from Paris itself, 200 bayonets.

All these are temporary solutions to plug the gap: the gendarmes will leave - and then the area will return to its own order.

The feeling that no French city is already free from such problems. 

The crime situation is deteriorating rapidly, violence is growing, adolescents of 14-15 years old are dying in showdowns, gangs organize rodeos in public places, drug dealers establish their own laws, search residents who return home so that they suddenly do not turn out to be spies.

What do the authorities offer in return?

Citizens, already exhausted by the epidemic, are asked to be patient, to comply with all the rules, they are threatened with a fine of € 135 if, after 6 pm, they still appear on the street without special need.

But for some reason, the rules do not seem to apply to those who prevent such people from sleeping and spit on the laws of the republic.

Impunity and legal laicism have led to the fact that entire areas are given over to gangs.

The police do not intervene there, because either there is no order from the higher authorities, or there is no legal basis, or there is no political will, which is most likely.

Law enforcement officers can bravely fine those who are stuck in a traffic jam in the evening rush hour after curfew, but only their confusion and powerlessness is remembered when they back away from the punks under a hail of stones, insults, curses and threats.

When asked by the newspaper Le Figaro whether the authorities can protect against urban violence, more than 90% of readers answered no.

Because everyone can see that the punks are simply not touched, recidivists are caught, but released.

Whoever tried to kill a photojournalist in Reims was convicted eight times of theft, drug smuggling and violence.

Eight times in the three years that he spent in France.

Originally a guy from Algeria, he moved to Reims in 2018. 

The Tunisian migrant spent only a few weeks in the country in October last year, after which he stabbed three in the church of Notre Dame in Nice.

90% of asylum seekers who are refused, still remain in France, living illegally.

Like, for example, the Sudanese who stabbed the director of the refugee reception center in the city of Po in February.

Each of these episodes is shocking individually, but given the number and regularity, it all turns into a news roundup familiar to France.

There are different proposals on what to do: for example, start with migrants, send all convicted foreigners back to their homeland, even if they serve time there.

Because in France, prisons are so overcrowded that 45% of sentences are not executed even six months after they were passed.

The country is in the 18th place in Europe in terms of the number of prisoners in proportion to the population, in the number of attempted murders - in seventh, and in the number of intentionally inflicted injuries / injuries - in second place.

Newspapers note the gap between the beautiful speeches of politicians and the lack of methodical tough action based on realities on earth.

Hence the crisis of confidence in the authorities.

You need the desire and courage to deal with the problem, but for obvious reasons there are none.

Because any attempt to restore order by force will lead to a social explosion in those areas that are used to impunity.

What politician would do this?

Moreover, the elections are ahead.

And in an amicable way, order is no longer being restored.

In addition, skillfully using the situation for their own selfish ends, radical Islam is taking root in such areas.

Hour by hour is not easier.

But the authorities turn a blind eye to this, continuing to sweetly sip coffee with a fragrant croissant, all hoping and believing in a miracle that it will somehow settle down by itself, dissolve and suddenly integrate.

Alas, they are mistaken, this is just another naive and dangerous illusion.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.