The wave of violence that has shaken France since last Wednesday has taken on unprecedented intensity. It recalls the crisis unleashed in 2005, when two young people from the outskirts of Paris were electrocuted while fleeing from the police. That provoked the anger of these neighborhoods, the so-called banlieue, although not with such virulence in such a short time.

There were three weeks of altercations, with images that had a great impact outside the country. Three people died in the riots and there were more than 6,000 detainees, some 200 public buildings attacked and 10,000 vehicles set on fire. The young men who died at the time were called Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré.

The trigger for the current crisis is the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old boy, shot by a police officer on Tuesday at a checkpoint in Nanterre, on the Parisian outskirts. This wave of violence that has been sweeping the country for several days has elements in common with that of then. This time, in just four days there are already more than 2,000 detainees, more than 300 injured agents, more than 3,000 vehicles set on fire and another thousand public buildings attacked. There is looting of stores, shops, tobacconists, banks and transport.

This crisis “is 10 times worse than then, much more serious,” explains Rudy Manna, from the Aliance Police union and agent in Marseille, one of the cities where violence has escalated the most in recent days.

“As much as we search for answers, we can’t find justifications for this escalation, except that youth is much more violent now. That and that French justice is very lax,” says this policeman, who adds that, at least in Marseille, “no there is no way to control it, because these young robbers do not understand any other code than the law of the strongest”.

The profile of the violent has changed. Younger -under 18 years- and radicalized. Also more digitized. They are summoned on social networks, where they boast of their exploits. 30% of those arrested in recent days are minors, according to French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti.

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, explained that these days “13-year-old boys have been arrested.” “I hope that there is no impunity and that young people realize that they cannot hide behind the telephone so as not to be prosecuted,” said the Justice Minister.

The government’s reaction has also been different. In 2005, the then Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, excused the policemen and denied that the young people who died were “physically persecuted” by the agents. On this occasion, the Government has been careful not to further stir the anger of the inhabitants of these neighborhoods and last Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that “nothing justifies the death of a young man.”

“We have all seen these extremely shocking images,” said Darmanin, regarding the video broadcast on social networks in which the agent is seen shooting the young man.

“The government is very afraid that someone, another young man, will die in the riots, because that would make the streets much more inflamed,” said another agent who preferred to remain anonymous. “It’s almost better that he’s a cop,” he confesses.

On the most violent day of the riots in 2005, 1,500 cars were burned. The Government then decided to declare a state of emergency, which allowed the regions to decree curfews. This gradually made the riots subside.

On November 14, 2005, the French president, Jacques Chirac, congratulated the forces of order and pointed out that all young people “are children of the Republic.”

In the current crisis, for the moment the Executive has not wanted to take a similar measure and has chosen to reinforce security with tens of thousands of police officers every night, has sent armored vehicles and helicopters to the most conflictive areas (Marseille, among them) and also to the elite units of the armed forces, such as the RAID.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project