'I don't understand the actions but I get the anger': the view from a French high-rise housing estate
In the town of Mantes-la-Jolie, north-west of Paris, public buildings and shops have been burnt or burgled in the unrest that has followed the death last week of 17-year-old Nahel at Nanterre. Mediapart visited the worst-affected neighbourhood there, the vast high-rise housing estate of Le Val Fourré, and found that local residents both condemned and understood the actions of local youths. For all of them have their own stories about a lack of civility and of violence by the police over recent decades, often based on close personal experience. Caroline Coq-Chodorge and Célia Mebroukine report from the town.
ItIt is Saturday July 1st in Le Val Fourré and a time for festivities to celebrate the end of the school year. Children of all ages, some with their parents, meander through the labyrinth of this neighbourhood in Mantes-la-Jolie, north-west of Paris, the site of one of the biggest high-rise housing estates in France with 21,000 residents. In the huge esplanade in the centre of the estate a local association has installed some inflatable toys, and sports clubs are holding their end-of-year festivals. On the sports ground organisers are staging the Mantes Coupe d’Afrique des Nations (CAN), a football tournament in which young boys and girls are divided into teams playing in colours that more or less reflect their families' diverse origins.
