France at Risk of ‘Décivilisation’, Macron Tells Cabinet Meeting

French President Emmanuel Macron told ministers at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the country is seeing a trend towards “décivilisation”, government sources said. Macron’s remarks followed the deaths of a nurse and three policemen in the past week as well as a fatal shooting in Marseille.

“We must be uncompromising on the fundamentals,” Macron told ministers at a cabinet meeting. “There is no such thing as ‘legitimate’ violence, whether it be verbal or [physically] targeting people.”

“We must work tirelessly to counteract this process of décivilisation,” he said {snip}

While violent crime remains relatively rare in France, a particularly violent week prompted Macron to cancel a trip to the south of France to take part in a memorial for three policemen killed in a car crash Sunday when a man under the influence drove the wrong way.

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Three men were killed in a shooting in Marseille over the weekend while a nurse died after a knife attack on Monday by a man suffering from psychiatric problems in the eastern city of Reims.

But the revelation that Macron used the word “décivilisation” immediately drew criticism that he was adopting rhetoric beloved by the far right and those who subscribe to the xenophobic “great replacement” theory.

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