On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the deaths of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, police officer and author Abdoulaye Kanté wanted to set the record straight regarding the comments made by Mathilde Panot, president of the LFI group in the National Assembly. On RTL radio this Sunday, she denounced "systemic violence in the police" and promised to "repeal the Cazeneuve law," which she described as a "license to kill."
A message of appeasement against hate speech
In response, Abdoulaye Kanté posted a strong message on X: "Madam Deputy, we do not build social peace on the opposition between the police and the population. Twenty years after the tragic deaths of Zyed and Bouna, the duty of remembrance must bring us together, not divide us." The police officer, who has a large following on social media, added that "France is not a country where the police kill, but a country where women and men serve every day under the gaze of the law, often risking their lives." The police officers prosecuted in the 2005 deaths of Zyed and Bouna have all been acquitted.
While Mathilde Panot speaks of "162 deaths linked to police checks" and accuses France of being "singled out by the UN," Abdoulaye Kanté calls for "understanding what leads some young people to flee the uniform instead of seeing it as protection." A message of balance and dialogue, contrary to a discourse often accused of adding fuel to the fire.
This exchange illustrates the divide between a radical left obsessed with the concept of "systemic racism" and those who, like Kanté, defend a grassroots approach and a Republic united around its police forces.
