Bertrand is president of the Hauts-de-France Regional Council and is currently polling in third behind President Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen ahead of the national election, which will take place in April next year.
“There is today a real risk of civil war,” Bertrand told the Grand Jury program, adding, “The president of the Republic must do everything to avoid it, and this requires above all the end of crimes not being punished. Any sanction must result in a sentence at the end.”
More specifically, Bertrand was referring to violent crime problems plaguing the outskirts of major cities, where immigrants have settled in radicalized ghettos and refused to integrate.
In response to the killing of criminals who become involved in violent confrontations with police, urban riots have become a routine occurrence in cities like Paris and Lyon.
“You have gangs, gangs fighting with Kalashnikovs; wouldn’t that be a civil war?” asked Bertrand.
The situation has become so unstable that some commentators, including Bertrand’s presidential rival Eric Zemmour, have called for such areas to be “re-conquered by force.”
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