President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday urged calm after 150 people were arrested and public buildings attacked in protests over the police killing of a teenager that has incensed France.
Nahel M., 17, was shot in the chest at point-blank range in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday in an incident that has reignited debate in France about police tactics.
Cars and bins were torched in parts of Paris and nationwide overnight, and protesters launched fireworks at riot police, who fired flashball projectiles. A tramway was set alight in a Paris suburb.
“We are sick of being treated like this. This is for Nahel, we are Nahel,” said two young men calling themselves “Avengers” as they wheeled rubbish bins from a nearby estate to a burning barricade in the capital.
Branding the overnight clashes “unjustifiable”, President Macron told a crisis meeting of ministers that the coming hours and an afternoon march in memory of Nahel in Nanterre should be marked by “contemplation and respect”.
“The last few hours have been marked by scenes of violence against police stations, but also schools and town halls… against institutions and the Republic,” he said.
The riots are deeply troubling for Emmanuel Macron who had been looking to move past a half-year of sometimes violent protests over his controversial pension reform.
The teenager was killed as he pulled away from police who tried to stop him for traffic infractions.
A video circulating on social media and authenticated by AFP showed two policemen standing by the side of the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver.
A voice is heard saying: “You are going to get a bullet in the head.”
The police officer then appears to fire as the car abruptly drives off.
Clashes first erupted as the video emerged, contradicting police accounts that the teenager was driving at the officer.
On Thursday, a prosecutor said the policeman’s use of his firearm did not meet the legal conditions under which such force can be used.
Pascal Prache, state prosecutor in the area where the killing took place, also said that the policeman was being taken before a magistrate on Thursday with a view to charging him with homicide, and added he was demanding the officer remain in custody.
Wednesday night anger spread to Toulouse, Dijon and Lyon, as well as several towns around the Paris region where around 2,000 riot police had been deployed.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter that the violence was “intolerable”.
‘Justice for Nahel’
Near the scene of Nahel M.’s killing, masked demonstrators dressed in black launched fireworks and firecrackers at security forces.
A thick column of smoke billowed above the area where AFP journalists saw more than a dozen cars and garbage cans set ablaze and barriers blocking off roads.
Graffiti sprayed on the walls of one building called for “justice for Nahel” and said, “police kill”.
In the working-class 18th and 19th districts of northeastern Paris police fired flashballs to disperse protesters who responded by throwing bottles.
In the southern city of Toulouse, several cars were torched and police and firefighters pelted with projectiles.
At France’s second-largest prison complex, Fresnes, protesters attacked security at the entrance with fireworks.
The town hall of Mons-en-Baroeul outside the northern city of Lille was set on fire when some fifty hooded individuals breached the building, the mayor told AFP.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Thursday was to visit Garges-les-Gonesse north of Paris where the mayor’s office was set on fire overnight.
‘Ingredients for an explosion’
France is haunted by the prospect of a repeat of 2005 riots sparked by the death of two boys of African origin during a police chase. during which 6,000 people were arrested.
“There are all the ingredients for another explosion potentially,” one government adviser told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The head of the right-wing Republicans, Eric Ciotti, called for a state of emergency, which allows local authorities to create no-go areas.
But there has been growing concern over police tactics, particularly against young men from non-white minorities.
Last year, 13 people were killed after refusing to stop for police traffic checks, with a law change in 2017 that gave officers greater powers to use their weapons now under scrutiny.
“What I see on this video is the execution by police of a 17-year-old kid, in France, in 2023, in broad daylight,” said Greens party leader Marine Tondelier.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said the officer was entitled to the “presumption of innocence”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Source: France’s Macron Urges Calm After Mass Arrests, Protests Over Teen’s Murder
