Riots in France Caused by Lack of Respect for Authority Rather Than Migrants - Police Chief

PARIS (Sputnik) - Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said on Thursday that the cause of mass riots in France is lack of respect for the French government's authority among the citizens and not the influx of migrants to the country.

Earlier in July, French President Emmanuel Macron and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire admitted that there was a problem of authority in the French society.

"We are faced with the crisis of authority in our country. We cannot deny that and we cannot explain away everything by [the issues of] security or migration ... I observe that more and more young people today have no respect for authority and defy it, whatever it is, not only the police or the gendarmerie," he told a French radio.

Earlier in the month, a number of French politicians, in particular, Jordan Bardella, the president of France's far-right National Rally party, and the leader of France's euroskeptic Popular Republican Union party, Francois Asselineau, said that the mass riots and social tension were caused by migrants. However, the French Foreign Ministry said that the country had no security issues connected to migrants.

A poll conducted by Odoxa and Backbone Consulting on July 7 showed that about 60% of the French citizens believed that the migration law should be toughened, because it was the influx of migrants that caused the mass riots.

On June 27, Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old French of Moroccan and Algerian descent, was shot dead by a police officer for allegedly refusing to follow orders during a traffic stop. The incident sparked mass nationwide protests that lasted for over a week. The French Interior Ministry said the protesting youth set on fire more than 12,000 cars, as well as about 500 city halls, police stations and other government buildings. More than 4,000 people were detained, a significant part of whom were minors. The economy ministry said over a 1,000 retail outlets, about 370 banks, 200 grocery stores and 436 tobacco shops were looted during the riots.