“Thousands of people will remember their history”: Emmanuel Grégoire suggests that the names of Zyed and Bouna appear at Place de la Nation

The mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire (PS) proposes that part of the Place de la Nation bear the names of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré, whose death in 2005 in Seine-Saint-Denis caused a series of urban riots in France, according to an article published Friday by Libération.

“At the next Paris Council, we will propose that an area of ​​the Place de la Nation bear the name of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré. In this emblematic place of the capital, thousands of people will pass daily in front of this plaque and will remember their history (...),” write Emmanuel Grégoire, his deputy Laurence Patrice, the mayor of the 11th arrondissement David Belliard and the mayor of the 12th arrondissement, Lucie Castets.

On October 27, 2005, in Clichy-sous-Bois, Zyed, 17, and Bouna, 15, died of electrocution in an EDF transformer where they had wanted to take refuge to escape the police, panicked, after a chase, although they had nothing to reproach themselves for. The announcement of their deaths and then the fact that the authorities had initially denied the reality of the chase and wrongly mentioned an attempted burglary on a construction site, had served as detonators for a revolt in the suburbs of such magnitude that the country was placed in a state of emergency.

“Yes, Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré were children of the Republic”

The four elected officials propose that the names of the two adolescents be inscribed at the foot of the imposing bronze sculpted by Jules Dalou, the Triumph of the Republic. “Yes, Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré were children of the Republic,” they insist, emphasizing the particular responsibility of Paris in this duty of memory, because their fathers worked in the capital as cleaning agents.

“It is an understatement to say that the situation has not improved since” the death of the two teenagers, judge the four elected officials. “Residents of working-class neighborhoods continue to suffer from racism, poverty and a two-tiered education system,” they add, before asserting that the Republic “does not guarantee equal rights” and “makes differences among its children.”

“Relations between the police and the population have hardened, leading to multiple tragedies and new violence (...),” they also write. Located to the east of Paris, Nation, between the Place de la Bastille and the Bois de Vincennes, is the starting or finishing point for many events.