BORDEAUX — On the first night of a curfew restricting unaccompanied minors in central Bordeaux, teenagers expressed frustration and a sense of injustice, arguing that the measure punishes young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods for the actions of a small minority.
The prefectural order, in effect from Oct. 20 to Oct. 26, bars anyone under 18 who is not accompanied by a legal representative from the streets of the hypercenter between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. The restricted zone covers areas hit by looting on Saturday.
A “Punishment” for All
Adem, who is not yet 18, was rushing to catch his tram on Tuesday evening as the curfew took effect. He said the city center is his “breath of fresh air,” especially during school holidays.
“I’d rather hang out in town than stay at home,” he said. “I think 10 p.m. is too early.”
Even though the restricted perimeter is narrowly drawn, the teenager said he feels punished. Sitting under a transit shelter, Anouar nodded in agreement. The young IT worker argued that the prefecture’s order primarily penalizes youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods.
“I feel like we always respond with collective punishments for everyone,” said Anouar, who lives in Cenon, a half-hour tram ride from central Bordeaux. The town ranks as the 192nd poorest commune in France, with a very young population and 80 nationalities.
Anouar said he rejects the link some have drawn between immigrants and the vandals who rampaged on Saturday.
“Those who criticize them — take Bardella, for example — he has an Algerian grandmother and an Italian grandfather,” Anouar said. “He’s as foreign as those he criticizes.”
“Young People Are Always Scapegoats”
Safia, 17, said she has stopped looking at images of looters in tracksuits and hoodies. She has cut off all her social media accounts and no longer watches television.
“It’s a lot of young people doing this, but it’s a minority. We talk a lot about minorities, but not about the majority,” she said.
The high school student is spending the week earning her Bafa — a youth worker certification — to help finance her studies. She wants to study medicine and become a pediatrician. Among her peers, she said, there is no sympathy for the rioters.
“What they did is stupid. It wasn’t thought through,” she said.
Luca, a youth activity leader for the city, said he knows the town’s young people well.
“We have no testimony from young people showing that they went to Bordeaux to cause damage. They are always scapegoats,” he said with frustration.
The mayor of Cenon said the town’s surveillance cameras detected no suspicious movement toward Bordeaux on Oct. 17, and that to his knowledge no young person from the commune was arrested.
- The curfew applies only to unaccompanied minors in Bordeaux’s hypercenter.
- It runs nightly from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. through Oct. 26.
- Local youth and officials say the measure unfairly stigmatizes disadvantaged neighborhoods.
