On June 27, French police murdered Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent. Rather than treating the incident as an opportunity for introspection, French police have rebelled against all attempts to be held accountable.

What if the state of the French police is but a reflection of the profound malaise engulfing the rule of law in the country as a whole? Just over a month after the death of Nahel Merzouk, a seventeen-year-old boy shot down by the police, France now confronts seditious inclinations within its law enforcement ranks.

The increasing prevalence of protests across France in recent years has emboldened the country’s police. This is because their ability to ensure law and order is the basis on which parties from the center and Right have sought to legitimize themselves to the conservative sections of the electorate. French police have thus felt able to assert themselves, rebel, and seek to operate outside the boundaries of the law.