Trappes shooting: Macron's remarks on "first" racist attack trigger controversy
Following the Trappes shooting, Emmanuel Macron described the attack as the "first" act of racist terrorism, a claim contested by the political establishment.
Macron under fire following Trappes shooting
According to rtl.be, France's political establishment sharply contested on Friday remarks made by Emmanuel Macron about the shooting that occurred between Trappes and La Verrière, in the Yvelines. The President of the Republic had described this attack as the "first" act of terrorism planned in France because of the "skin colour or religion" of the victims — a formulation immediately disputed from all quarters.
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"This is a turning point because it is the first time there has been a planned terrorist attack to kill our compatriots, our children, because of their skin colour or the religion attributed to them," said Mr Macron, during a visit to Trappes in the evening. "What happened today is a terrorist attack, a racist one," he added.
Precedents recalled from all sides
The presidential statement immediately provoked contradictory reactions, from right and left alike, as well as from advocacy groups. Macron's detractors recalled attacks from the past fifteen years: the murders committed in 2012 by Mohamed Merah, who killed seven people including three children from a Jewish school; the Hypercasher attack in 2015; the assassination of Father Hamel in 2016; and the attack on the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice in 2020.
On the X platform, Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, directly challenged the head of state: "Contrary to what you declare, it is not the 'first time' that French people have been targeted and killed, in the framework of a planned terrorist operation, 'because of their skin colour or their religion'."
Socialist deputy for Essonne Jérôme Guedj was even more direct. "This statement by the President of the Republic is factually false and therefore politically problematic," he stated, emphasising that "identity-based assignment" had already "served as a lever for terrorism".
Member of the European Parliament François-Xavier Bellamy from the LR party went back to the Rue des Rosiers attack in 1982. He called on Macron not to "in order to make people believe it is a 'turning point', suddenly deny the reality of tears shed by France for far too long," also citing the Charlie Hebdo attack and the murder of Samuel Paty.
Member of the European Parliament Sarah Knafo (Reconquête) accused the president of "choosing his dead". "He forgets the Catholics, such as Father Hamel, who died because he was Catholic. He forgets the Jews, such as the Sandler children, who died because they were Jewish. He forgets the whites, such as Thomas, who died because he was white," she wrote.
The Crif also raises the question
Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif), also responded to the presidential statement. "Killing a French person because of his skin colour or supposed religion is attacking the Republic itself," he wrote on X, before adding that "unfortunately it is not the 'first time'" that such an attack has occurred in France. Arfi clarified that "this unity is sacred" and that the statement by the head of state "requires a clarification".
The Élysée attempts to clarify
Facing the controversy that had inflamed social media, the Élysée made a statement in the evening to clarify that "the head of state was obviously speaking of the first racist attack on the basis of skin colour committed in our country, as he specified at the beginning of his intervention".
Emmanuel Macron himself published a message on X to attempt to ease tensions. "I want to recall an essential truth and avoid any controversy: our country has experienced, in recent years, attacks that have struck Christians because they were Christians and Jews because they were Jews. None of these victims should be forgotten. No suffering should be ranked hierarchically," he wrote. "And I want nothing tonight to add to the pain of the families, to the sadness of the country and to the reflection of the nation."
Source: Google News BE FR