Rabat – Former journalist Zineb El Rhazoui is at the center of a new controversy after her comments on the Mantes-la-Jolie incident. On October 25 clashes erupted between police and hundreds of young people.
The Moroccan-born French journalist said that the police should have used “live ammunition” against the youths.
She described the young people involved in the clashes as “barbarians.”
The former Charlie Hebdo journalist made remarks in a televised broadcast at CNews on November 5.
Speaking during a debate on urban violence and the government approach to address the issue, El Rhazoui said: “The police must shoot real bullets in these cases.”.
She added that the American police “would have fired live ammunition,” if the clashes happened in the US.
The guests on the show, including journalist Pascal Praud and Gerard Leclerc, strongly opposed El Rhazoui statement.
Leclerc said, “in a normal democracy, we do not do that.”
Former spokesman for the French Communist Party Olivier Dartigolles said that El Rhazoui’s statement amounts to a “call for murder.”
After the debate, EL Rhazoui took to Twitter to defend herself, arguing that the law allows police officers to shoot [ people] when threatened with death or serious injury.”
In another tweet, she denied having ever recommended that “the police should shoot at protesters or people” who don’t pose a threat.
She added that she “fights for democracy.”
