On Tuesday, the police shot a 17-year-old boy of Algerian background during a traffic inspection. On Thursday, the prosecutor said that the police are suspected of murder and that a criminal investigation has been opened.
In France, the president Emmanuel Macron has held a crisis meeting due to the rioting that continued for the second day. Riots broke out on Tuesday after police shot dead a 17-year-old boy during a traffic control.
The events were reported by, among others, a British newspaper The Guardian, British broadcasting company BBC and Reuters news agency.
The rioting was concentrated on the night between Wednesday and Thursday in Paris and its surrounding areas, but clashes between the police and protesters have also been seen in Toulouse and various parts of northern France.
At least 180 people have been arrested for the night riots. Demonstrators launched fireworks at the police and set fire to cars, public buildings and shops. Among other things, town halls were set on fire at least outside of Paris in Garges-lés-Gonesse and Mons-en-Barœul in northern France. Minister of the Interior by Gérald Darmanin police stations and schools were also burned.
Also on Thursday, the demonstrators clashed with the police at the end of the march organized in memory of the boy who was shot in the suburb of Nanterre. The march was led by his mother Mounia.
At the end of the crisis meeting called by Macron, Darmanin announced that a total of 40,000 police officers would be deployed across France on Thursday evening to quell the protests. Of these, 5,000 will be sent to Paris. This is almost four times the number of police forces in use on Wednesday.
Darmanin or Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne however, so far they have not agreed to declare a state of emergency.
Police under criminal investigation as a suspect for murder
Algerian background Nahel ended up shot in his car in the suburb of Nanterre when the police stopped him for breaking the traffic rules.
On Thursday, an official criminal investigation into the manslaughter was started against the police officer who shot Nahel. In France, this is equivalent to bringing charges.
– Based on the evidence, the Attorney General considers that there was no legal basis for using the weapon, the prosecutor of the case Pascal Prache said at a press conference on Thursday.
According to the police’s original version, the boy was shot because he was driving towards the police. However, the social media videos verified by the news agency AFP paint a different picture of the events.
The video shows two police officers standing next to a stopped car, one of whom is pointing a gun at the driver.
– You get a bullet in your skull, says the voice on the video.
The car drives off, after which the police shoot at the driver. The car continues its journey for a while until it derails from the street. Moments later the driver dies.
Raised a discussion about racism and police violence
The case has brought to the surface a long-standing discussion about police violence and structural racism in France, Reuters writes.
Tuesday’s killing was the third fatal shooting at a traffic control in France this year. Last year there were a record 13 similar cases.
According to Reuters, since 2017, most of the victims of such shootings have been black or Arab.
In 2005, then-president Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency due to riots that lasted a total of three weeks. The riots broke out when one youth died and another suffered serious burns after they fled the police and hid in an electrical substation in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
The two police officers who chased the young people were acquitted ten years later.
Sources: Reuters