President Emmanuel Macron has often denounced a new “incivility” in France and called for mutual respect. The fatal confrontation during a traffic stop in the western suburb of Nanterre has become a kind of Rorschach test of a divided French society. Whatever French people see in the ink blots seems to be increasingly ugly and irreconcilable. In a statement on Friday, Alliance Police Nationale, the largest police union, denounced the “savage hordes” and “vermin” behind the burning of 2,000 cars and the looting of several stores in riots on Thursday night that led to the arrests of over 800 people. Another police union, Unsa, joined Alliance in what it said was a call to “combat” in a “war” that “the government must take account of.”

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Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Nahel, ”, Unsa Organizations: Alliance Police Nationale, Alliance Locations: France, Algerian, Nanterre