A French far-right figure behind a crowdfunding campaign for the family of a police officer who was detained over the killing of a 17-year-old that triggered riots around the country has announced he is closing the account after it topped more than €1.5 million.
Jean Messiha’s Gofundme effort drew criticism – and plans for lawsuits – amid claims that his real motive was to spread a message of hate and pit the far-right against residents of poor suburbs which have high numbers of people of immigrant origin.
French prime minister Elisabeth Borne has said the collection for the jailed officer’s family did not contribute to calming the situation.
French justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti also warned on France-Inter radio against a possible “instrumentalisation” of the issue.
The unrest was sparked by the shooting last Tuesday of the young man, identified only 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 continued to ebb for a third night on Tuesday.
However, reports emerged of the death of a 27-year-old man in Marseille on Sunday. The local prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation over “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.
It was not immediately clear whether the victim, who was not identified, was in the area of the riots and pillaging on the night of his death, the paper quoted the prosecutor’s office as saying.
Mr Messiha, meanwhile, hailed in a tweet what he called an “historic symbol of national generosity” while announcing the closing of the crowdfunding campaign at midnight on Tuesday for the family of the jailed officer, identified only as Florian M.
He said that more than 100,000 donors contributed to the effort he initiated on Friday that reached more than €1.5 million.
Mr Messiha equated the response to a “tsunami” in support of law enforcement officers “who in a certain way fight daily so that France remains France”.
The crowdfunding took on an ugly edge, with Mr Messiha bragging at one point that his effort was bringing in more funds than a similar crowdfunding account set up for the family of Nahel.
The family filed a complaint, alleging the crowdfunding was based on deception to “criminalise” the victim and win support for the police officer who fired at him, according to France-Info. It was not immediately clear whether an investigation would be opened.
Socialist legislator Arthur Delaporte from Calvados had filed a complaint earlier on Tuesday against the crowdfunding, contesting it on legal grounds, shortly before Mr Messiha closed it.
Egyptian-born Mr Messiha is a former official of the National Rally party of far-right leader Marine Le Pen which he left for a fledgling far-right party before dropping out of that to return to his think tank.
He remains a virulent critic of migration from Africa.
