PARIS (AP) — A French far-right figure behind a controversial and hugely successful crowdfunding campaign for the family of a police officer jailed in the murder of a 17-year-old who sparked riots throughout France announced on Tuesday that it was closing the account which exceeded more than 1.5 million euros ($1.63 million).
Criticism and legal action plans have piled up 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 poor suburban dwellers with a high rate of people of immigrant origin.
Even Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the collection for the imprisoned officer’s family had not helped calm the situation, as did Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti who warned France-Inter against a possible “instrumentalization”.
The unrest was sparked by the shooting last Tuesday of a young man identified as Nahel, who was arrested while driving a Mercedes in the Paris suburbs. The violence was sparked by a backlash mainly from teenagers in the suburbs and urban housing projects against a French state which many young people of immigrant backgrounds say regularly discriminates against them. The violence appeared to continue to ebb for a third night on Tuesday.
However, reports emerged of the death early on Sunday of a 27-year-old man in Marseille. The local prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Tuesday for “fatal blows with the use or threat of a weapon”, reports the newspaper La Marseillaise.
The probable cause of death was a “violent shock to the chest caused by a projectile of the ‘flashball’ type”, commonly used by the French police to fight riots.
It was not immediately clear whether the victim, who has not been identified, was in the area of rioting and looting the night of his death, the newspaper said citing the prosecutor’s office.
Messiha, meanwhile, praised in a tweet what he called a “historic symbol of national generosity” while announcing the closing of the crowdfunding campaign at midnight Tuesday for the family of the imprisoned officer, identified only like Florian M.
He said more than 100,000 donors have contributed to the effort he initiated on Friday which has reached more than 1.5 million euros. He likened the response to a “tsunami” in support of the police “who in a way are fighting on a daily basis for France to remain France”.
Crowdfunding had a nasty upside, with Messiha at one point bragging that his efforts brought in more funds than a crowdfunding account set up for Nahel’s family. The family filed a complaint, alleging that the crowdfunding was based on deception to “criminalize” the victim and win the support of the policeman who shot him, according to France-Info, which saw the complaint. It was not immediately clear whether an investigation would be opened.
Socialist lawmaker Arthur Delaporte from Calvados had filed a lawsuit against crowdfunding on Tuesday challenging its legal foundations – shortly before Messiha shut it down.
Egyptian-born Messiha is a former leader of far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party, which he left for a fledgling far-right party, then dropped out to return to his group of reflection. He remains a vocal critic of migration from Africa.