Awa, 18, stood in the dock in the tribunal de Paris, a small, mute and bewildered figure seeming unable to understand, let alone answer, the simplest of questions.
asserted
Awa → stand → questions
The court was told she had joined young people who looted an Yves Saint Laurent store on Boulevard Saint Germain in Paris’s Left Bank late on Sunday and stripped it bare within minutes.
asserted
who → tell → minutes
Awa was arrested at a nearby Metro station with a black balaclava and black gloves in her backpack along with four YSL handbags worth a total of €5,000.
asserted
Awa → arrest → 5,000
In the dock, dressed entirely in black - the clothes she was wearing when arrested two days earlier - she appeared panicked, clutched at her hair, picked her lip.
asserted
she → dress → lip
Unable to speak, she covered her face and began to weep; first silently, then uncontrollably, her sobs punctuating an almost palpably painful silence.
asserted
sobs → speak → silence
Awa was just one of 2,500 people arrested during last weekend’s rioting and looting across the country, more than 900 of whom are being fast-tracked through the courts using a procedure called comparution immédiate (immediate appearance).
asserted
one → arrest → procedure
It sends them to trial straight or shortly after being taken into custody, or within three days if they are held in pretrial detention.
asserted
they → send → detention
The process of handling this sudden influx of cases has overwhelmed the courts and angered defendants’ lawyers, who say they have no time to meet with clients.
asserted
they → handle → clients
The violence erupted after high-school student and union demonstrations.
asserted
violence → erupt → demonstrations
In Paris, the authorised march passed through the capital without major incident.
asserted
march → pass → incident
But on the fringes and afterwards, black-clad, masked people rampaged through cities and towns, setting fire to public buildings, bikes and rubbish bins, smashing up restaurants and shops, and looting local and luxury goods stores.
asserted
people → clothe → stores
Initial reports blamed the destruction on those protesting against a raft of unaddressed grievances against President Emmanuel Macron and successive governments, including “ultra-left” disrupters spurred on by the France Unbowed leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
asserted
reports → blame → leader
Most of those charged with vandalism, violence, theft, or damaging public or private property appeared to have been what officials have described as “opportunistic delinquents” with mundane rather than political motivations.
asserted
officials → charge → motivations
In Paris, 68% of those taken into custody were adults, according to the public prosecutor’s office, not high-school teenagers.
uncertain
% → take → office
As police escorted the defendants into court from the cells where they had been held since their arrest, it was clear that, apart from black clothing, they could not be categorised.
uncertain
they → escort → clothing
Many, like Awa, seemed completely non-plussed at finding themselves before a judge whose first question was: “Do you want to be tried now or later?”
asserted
you → seem → judge
Laure Beccuau, the Paris public prosecutor, told French radio: “The vast majority of those we’ve sent to the courts have never been convicted [before].”
Most were young and unemployed, others in work with families, such as Aboubacar, 23, employed by the charity Emmaüs; Boumedine, 25, a TikTok influencer; Oussama, 37, a delivery driver; Victor, 21, a student who appeared in court with a black eye, accused of attacking a police officer.
asserted
who → tell → officer
Lamine, 38, a builder, was discovered inside the Louis Vuitton concession at the Printemps department store in Paris, with Sofiane, 34, an Amazon worker, after the building’s grills closed in an emergency lockdown on Saturday.
asserted
grills → discover → Saturday
Lamine said he had gone to buy clothing for his five children, but the court heard his criminal record included convictions for violence, theft, resisting arrest and contempt of court.
asserted
record → say → court
The pair, found with €37,000 of luxury goods, were convicted: Lamine sentenced to “semi-release”, allowing him to work during the day but return to prison at night, and Sofiane ordered to wear an electronic bracelet for six months.
asserted
Sofiane → find → months
A 19-year-old student with no previous criminal record who had taken part in the official march was caught on his way home with several stolen black pullovers from a looted clothing store.
asserted
who → take → store
He was fined and given a 14-month suspended prison term, a sentence his mother said was too severe.
asserted
mother → fin → term
“It was just a question of opportunity,” he said.
asserted
he → say → opportunity
“I thought: everyone else is doing it why not me?
asserted
everyone → think → it
I regret it.”
asserted
I → regret → it
The justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, had extended the time those arrested could be held in police custody from 48 to 72 hours and called for courts to “to be extremely firm, to be ruthless towards the casseurs [rioters and vandals]”.
uncertain
courts → extend → casseurs
In response, 125 lawyers wrote an open letter to the president of the Paris bar association denouncing “the ultra-repressive turn taken by the Paris public prosecutor’s office”.
asserted
lawyers → write → office
“The nationwide protest on October 17 revealed to us, as lawyers, a historic, politically motivated, orchestrated, and deliberate crackdown.
asserted
protest → reveal → crackdown
We refuse to allow summary trials to become the tool of a political response to social anger,” they wrote.
asserted
they → refuse → anger
Back in court number 6.04, Awa managed to explain in mumbles and monosyllables that she had stolen the bags to sell, and regretted it.
asserted
she → manage → it
Her lawyer, Hamma Bouchareb, told the court her client, who passed her baccalaureate and was studying for an advanced technical diploma in international business, has been living in sheltered care since fleeing her violent father who beat her, forced her to take cold showers, fractured her skull and broke her arm.
asserted
who → tell → arm
She can hardly express herself.
asserted
She → express → herself
Awa stole and I am not excusing that, but she stole because she needs money,” she said.
asserted
she → steal → money
“This immediate court appearance is complicated and we need to reflect on what we are doing,” Bouchareb said.
asserted
Bouchareb → need → what
“These people have lost their bearings, they are afraid.
asserted
they → lose → bearings
Politicians are responsible for an economic situation in which some don’t have money to buy food or clothing, like my client.”
asserted
some → have → client
In a courtroom of lawyers, judges, prosecutors and press hardened to melodrama and often tall tales of woe, Awa’s story touched a nerve.
asserted
story → harden → nerve
The lawyer representing Yves Saint Laurent said he would not seek to “aggravate the situation” but pointed out two of the company’s stores had been looted and hundreds of bags taken.
asserted
hundreds → represent → bags
The prosecutor agreed it was “a sad situation” and he would not seek a custodial sentence.
asserted
he → agree → sentence
Awa was given a 12-month suspended sentence, ordered to pay a fine and damages, and perform 140 hours of community service.
asserted
Awa → give → service
The Aporia
