Are riots threatening in Germany like in France?

“France's protest culture has many peculiarities. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile for countries like Germany to take a look at the reasons for the riots.

For Björn Höcke the matter is clear. "France is only a few years ahead of us," wrote the far-right AfD politician on social media these days. But even politicians who don't notoriously warn against foreign infiltration look worriedly to the neighboring country and ask what the recent unrest there means for the immigration country Germany. You have to "deal intensively with the events in France," said FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai. "Uncontrolled immigration and enormous deficits in integration policy are a threat to internal security." And the chairman of the police union, Jochen Kopelke, said that "such riots are also conceivable in certain places in Germany, because the rejection of the democracy, of the state and of state authority".

There are already examples of the state losing control. Here, too, the debate, as now in France, revolved around the roots of the perpetrators. The New Year's Eve riots in Berlin, for example, when groups of young men shot fireworks at emergency services. Or the turf wars of criminal clans in the Ruhr area. But the capital in flames, for several days, like Paris recently? In Germany, that's hard to imagine. Nevertheless, the question is whether there are parallels between German and French society – and whether Berlin can learn from Paris.

The history of immigration is different in Germany than in France. Many people with roots in North Africa live in the former colonial power. When it comes to the tense situation in the suburbs, this section of the population takes center stage. While parallel cultures were discussed in Germany, for a long time it was about guest workers from Turkey and their descendants. In recent years, the focus has shifted to migrants from countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Overall, almost 30 percent of the people in Germany have a migration background. There are no comparable statistics for France. Estimates go there from 20 to 25 percent.

Youth unemployment of 16.9 percent

The former managing director of the Center for Conflict Research at the Philipps University of Marburg, Johannes Maria Becker, does not want to attribute the unrest to the issue of migration first and foremost. "It's not primarily to do with a lack of integration or with the boat being overcrowded, as is often claimed, but with the situation of young people," says the political scientist, who has lived in France for a long time. 

Youth unemployment there is 16.9 percent, and it is even higher among migrants. In Germany, children from migrant families have significantly worse chances of completing a higher education, but the situation on the labor market is different: youth unemployment is 6.1 percent.

There are various reasons why the value in France is so high. A dual training system like the one in Germany is only in its infancy. "If young people don't do a baccalauréat, they are at high risk of unemployment," says Becker. "In France, people don't even know about the many supportive opportunities that exist for young people in Germany." 

Added to this is the fact that de-industrialization is well advanced in France. The political scientist Fabien Jobard from the Franco-German research center Center Marc Bloch puts it this way: "If in a certain part of the population many young people, especially the male ones, leave school without a degree, there is no longer a factory that gives these people could give a job.”

The lack of prospects in the suburbs of the metropolis is reinforced by the housing situation. In Germany, too, there are areas dominated by migrants, where criminal gangs have more say than the police. But even Duisburg-Marxloh is not the banlieue. "It's comparable in principle, but the quantity is completely different in France, where several thousand people live in one block of flats," says Becker. Among medical professionals and social psychologists, there is even a word for the consequences of living there. It sounds like an illness: sarcelitis – named after Sarcelles, one of the oldest housing estates on the outskirts of Paris.

The police act deliberately robust

The anger that has erupted in such places over the past few days was generally directed at symbols of the state, such as town halls and schools. But it was triggered by a case of police violence,  and it cannot be understood without the role of the police. In contrast to the German police, who cultivate their image as friends and helpers and for whom de-escalation is an essential strategy, the French police are deliberately robust. This is promoted by politics, says political scientist Jobard. When former President Nicolas Sarkozy was Interior Minister, he once said: "The police should terrorize terrorists and scare criminals."

Jobard, who lives in a Paris suburb himself, has been dealing with police violence for a long time and is currently a sought-after conversation partner. The behavior of the French police officers was characterized by "violence and harshness", especially towards non-French people in the suburbs, he says. A racism problem cannot be dismissed out of hand. What this leads to can be seen in the numbers. In the current year alone, 15 people have been killed by police gunfire while in a car, including 17-year-old Nahel, whose death sparked the riots. During the Yellow Vest protests in 2018 and 2019, 25 people lost an eye to police rubber bullets. Jobard says: "Some of the young people in France disconnect themselves from society because of their experiences with the police, there is no comparison to Germany."

 Police violence is also being discussed in this country, but on a different level. A total of ten people were killed by shots fired by police officers last year. The photo of the recently deceased Stuttgart 21 demonstrator Dietrich Wagner, who has blood running from his eyes, burned itself into the collective consciousness because it was so unusual.

Racism among police officers is also an issue in Germany. A study funded by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, of which only interim results are available so far, comes to the conclusion that at least it does not represent a structural problem. In a study by the Federal Criminal Police Office last year, every fourth respondent stated that the police are influenced by prejudice and do not treat Germans and foreigners equally. Conversely, there are also increasing reports from emergency services who complain about a lack of respect in certain milieus.

France is worth looking at

Despite all the differences, a look at France is not unproductive for the German debate. The fact that the unrest there can also be explained by the situation on the job market and the housing situation is revealing in view of the persistently high level of migration in this country as well. Many municipalities are already barely able to accommodate the arriving people. The challenges for the education system are enormous. "We have to give people structures so that they aren't forced into illegality like in France," says conflict researcher Becker. "Financing education and training is economically cheaper than financing unemployment - not to mention the moral aspect."

The North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) recently set other priorities compared to the "Bild" newspaper. As different as the situation in France is: it is important to “start early on where subcultures are forming and people are disconnected”. In the case of riots like the one recently in the Ruhr area, you have to "take immediate, consistent action to prevent entire parts of the city from being lost at some point". The political scientist Jobard points out: “The solution must remain that police officers act more as social workers than as enforcers of the law so as not to lose contact with the people – in France it is already too late for that in many places.”

When it comes to the question of whether the pictures from Paris can also be imagined in Berlin, something else should be taken into account. The French are proud of the successful revolts in their history and regularly rebel against the central state. Even when unions call for protests, there is – to a lesser extent – violence. The current riots are probably that too: very French.”