The use of lethal force by officers on the adolescent, who was of North African ancestry, has contributed to a widespread perception of police brutality in France’s ethnically varied suburbs. For shooting the youth, a police officer is being probed for willful homicide. Prosecutors claim he disobeyed an order to stop his car.
Following the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old boy during a traffic stop, demonstrators fired fireworks at police and set cars on fire in Nanterre, a working-class Paris suburb.
Protests Have Engulfed France
On Nanterre’s Avenue Pablo Picasso, a path of overturned vehicles blazed as fireworks fizzed towards police lines. Police battled with protestors in Lille in the north and Toulouse in the southwest, and there was also unrest in Amiens, Dijon, and the Essonne administrative area south of Paris, according to a police spokesman.
The French media reported events in a number of other locations in the greater Paris area. Several videos on social media showed dozens of fireworks being directed at the Montreuil town hall in Paris’s eastern outskirts.
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What Did The Authorities Say?
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the incident has “moved the entire nation”. He added that the shooting was “inexplicable” and “unforgivable”, Macron said. The interior ministry has asked for calm and claimed that 2,000 police officers have been deployed in the Paris area.
Rights groups have accused France’s law enforcement institutions of institutional racism, something Macron has previously denied. The National Assembly observed a minute of silence, where Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the shooting “clearly not to comply with the rules.”
Who Was The Teenager?
Prosecutors said the boy, Nael M, was driving a rented car when police pulled him over for violating various traffic laws.
A verified video circulating on social media shows two officers attempting to stop the vehicle, with one putting his pistol through the window and firing at close range when the driver appears to continue driving.
The car moved a few metres before crashing. The teenager died shortly after emergency personnel attempted to resuscitate him at the scene.
According to the lawyer, the family has filed a legal complaint against the officers for homicide, complicity in homicide, and false testimony. A woman identified as the victim’s mother asked for a mourning march in Nanterre in a video. “Everyone come, we will lead a revolt for my son,” she said.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Hindustan Times, Al Jazeera, BBC
Find the blogger: Palak Dogra
This post is tagged under: france, france is burning, france protests, teen killed in france, emmanuel macron, french president, paris
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