French far-right's Jean Messiha ends divisive crowdfunding

Paris: A French far-right figure behind a divisive, and hugely successful, crowdfunding campaign for the family of a police officer jailed in the killing of a 17-year-old that triggered riots around France announced on Tuesday that he’s closing the account which topped more than 1.5 million euros ($1.63 million).

Criticism, and plans for lawsuits, have mounted around Jean Messiha’s Gofundme effort with claims that his real motive was to spread a message of hate and pit the far-right against residents of poor suburbs with a high rate of people of immigrant origin.

Even Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said the collection for the jailed officer’s family did not contribute to calming the situation, just like Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti who warned on France-Inter radio against a possible “instrumentalization.”

The unrest was touched off by the shooting last Tuesday of the young man identified as Nahel, who was stopped while driving a Mercedes in suburban Paris. Violence was driven by a mainly teenage backlash in the suburbs and urban housing projects against a French state that many young people with immigrant roots say routinely discriminates against them.

Violence appeared to continue to ebb for a third night Tuesday. However, reports emerged of the death early Sunday of a 27-year-old man in Marseille.

The local prosecutor’s office opened an investigation Tuesday for “mortal blows with use or threat of a weapon,” the newspaper La Marseillaise reported. The probable cause of death was a “violent shock to the thorax caused by a projectile of the ‘flashball’ type,” commonly used by French police for riot control. (AP)