Fundraiser for French Officer Blamed for Killing Teen Raises Over $1.7 Million

A firefighter looks on as vehicles burn following riots in Nanterre, west of Paris, on June 28, 2023. Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP via Getty Images

A fundraiser for the family of the policeman who sparked the ongoing riots in France by allegedly shooting a teenager has raised more than $1.7 million dollars, exceeding the money collected for the victim—pointing to deep divisions within the community.

A GoFundMe campaign for the officer, identified as Florian M. raised more than 1.6 million euros ($1.74 million) in six days from over 85,000 donations. It was organized by media personality Jean Messiha. “Support for the family of the Nanterre policeman, Florian.M who has done his job and is now paying a high price. Support him MASSIVELY and support our law enforcement!” the fundraiser said.

Meanwhile, a fundraiser set up for the teenage boy Nahel Merzouk, whose death sparked the riots, raised only around 437,000 euros ($475,000), smaller than half of what the campaign for the officer collected. Seventeen-year-old Nahel was of Moroccan and Algerian descent.

The riots in France were triggered after Nahel was shot on June 27 during a traffic stop in Nanterre, just outside of Paris. Nahel got shot at point-blank range by the officer as the teen attempted to drive away from the traffic stop and drove through a red light.

On Sunday, Nahel’s grandmother said that she was “heartbroken” by the support shown for the officer. “He took the life of my grandson. This man must pay, the same as everyone,” she said to the French news channel BFM.

However, Mr. Messiha insists that the officer was only performing his duty. “Macron took up the cause for Nahel. We take up the cause of the police and the gendarmerie. This exemplary policeman, Florian M. only did his duty,” Mr. Messiha said in a June 30 tweet. Gendarmerie refers to a police force that is part of the armed forces in France.

“I support him and I have set up a kitty to help his family in the face of the hallali of which he is a victim,” Mr. Messiha added while posting a link to the GoFundMe campaign. The fundraiser was closed on Tuesday.

Support and Opposition for Fundraiser

The fundraising has attracted polarizing opinions. While left-wing politicians characterized the fundraiser as a shameful event, others have extended support, defending a police force that they say is a target of violence in low-income suburbs in the country.

“Nearly a million euros collected on the initiative of a far-right polemicist in support of a police officer who kills a teenager. The message? It pays to kill a young Arab. And the government turns a blind eye. This kitty must be deleted as soon as possible!” Manon Aubry, a politician from the left wing party La France Insoumise, said in a July 3 tweet.

In an interview with French channel LCI, Eric Ciotti, president of the center-right party Les Republicains, said that he does not find it “shocking” that a fundraiser is being held to “support the family of a police officer.”

Prior to ending the fundraiser, several left-wing activists and politicians had called on GoFundMe to shut down the initiative. However, GoFundMe refused to do so.

A spokesperson from the company told French news agency AFP that the fundraiser had not broken any rules since the money is not intended to benefit the officer but his family.

According to French law, fundraising for paying the legal costs, damages, or fines resulting from criminal cases is not allowed.

Damaging Riots, Immigration in Focus

The riots, triggered following Nahel’s death on June 27, have led to massive damage in France. Over 1,000 buildings have been damaged and more than 5,600 vehicles were burned, French outlet Le Parisien reported citing data from the Ministry of the Interior.

More than 3,300 arrests have been made, including 1,282 arrests in the jurisdiction of the Paris police headquarters.

Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto is blaming open border policies for the crisis in France. “It has become clear that it is quite simply impossible to integrate violent masses from other cultures arriving illegally in large numbers,” he said in a recent speech at his country’s parliament, according to Breitbart.

“Maybe there are, or were, still people in Europe who lived with the vain illusion that Western European social integration efforts can be brought off successfully. Well, if they turned on the television and watched the news from France, then I think that your fantasy will quickly turn into disillusionment,” Mr. Szijjarto said.

According to France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, abbreviated as INSEE, there were 7 million immigrants in France in 2021, accounting for 10.3 percent of the total population.

The agency’s data shows that the majority of immigrants, amounting to 48 percent, were born in Africa. Europeans made up the second-largest group at 33 percent.