The killing of a teenager by a police officer in Paris is not the same as in France: protests against racism and injustice in France
There are more deaths at the hands of French police in recent years than in the U.S., prompting demands for more accountability, but deadly use of firearms is less common in France than in the US. George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota sparked protests against racism and other injustice in France.
“The shocking images aired yesterday show an intervention that seems clearly not to comply with the rules of engagement of the police forces,” said the Prime Minister.
Videos of the shooting shared online show two police officers leaning into the window of a yellow car before one officer fires at the vehicle, which pulls away. The videos show the car later crashed into a post nearby.
The killing was “inexplicable” and he called for calm. “Nothing justifies the death of a young person,” he told reporters in Marseille on Wednesday.
When a police officer shot and killed a teenager named Nahel M. in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday, outrage boiled over and spread across France. Riots and violence have broken out as protesters call for justice in big cities.
A police officer was taken into custody after the shooting — and on Thursday, prosecutor Pascal Prache announced a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide against the officer, saying that a review found the legal standard for the officer to use his gun had not been met when he fired at Nahel from close range.
Violence against the Nahel-Mumford-Dahel rioter in L’Ile-Saint-Denis
Multiple vehicles were set ablaze and protesters shot fireworks and threw stones at police, who fired volleys of tear gas. There was a fire at an electrical plant and flames shooting out of a three story building. Fire damaged the town hall of the Paris suburb of L’Ile-Saint-Denis, not far from France’s national stadium and the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Macron also said it was time for “remembrance and respect” as Nahel’s mother called for a silent march Thursday in his honor on the square where he was killed.
“These acts are totally unjustifiable,” Macron said at the beginning of the meeting, which aimed at securing hot spots and planning for the coming days “so full peace can return.”
The Paris region accounted for over half of the 150 people arrested around the country. She was not authorized to be publicly named according to police rules.
There was a deployment of 2,000 police to maintain order in the Paris area after violence broke out in and around the suburb where Nahel was killed. But violence resumed after dusk.
The president of France planned to leave the EU summit in Brussels and return to Paris for a security meeting on Friday.
Around 200 police officers were injured, according to a national police spokesperson. There was no information regarding injuries among the rest of the population.
Police used tear gas, water cannons, and dispersion grenades against rioters after they set fire to schools, town halls and police stations.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Friday denounced what he called a night of “rare violence.” His office stated that the arrests had been a sharp increase on previous operations as a result of the government’s attempt to be “EXTREMELY firm” with rioters.
More-than-600-arrests-after-a-new night of protests across-france-over-teens-kilil
The government has stopped short of declaring a state of emergency — a measure taken to quell weeks of rioting around France that followed the accidental death of two boys fleeing police in 2005.
The police officer accused of pulling the trigger Tuesday was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.” Preliminary charges mean investigating magistrates strongly suspect wrongdoing but need to investigate more before sending a case to trial.
The detained police officer’s lawyer, speaking on French TV channel BFMTV, said the officer was sorry and “devastated.” An attorney said that the officer did what he thought was necessary in the moment.
“He doesn’t get up in the morning to kill people,” said the officer’s lawyer, who didn’t want to be named. “He really didn’t want to kill.”
“We have to go beyond saying that things need to calm down,” said Dominique Sopo, head of the campaign group SOS Racisme. “The issue here is how do we make it so that we have a police force that when they see Blacks and Arabs, don’t tend to shout at them, use racist terms against them and in some cases, shoot them in the head.”
In Nanterre, a peaceful march Thursday afternoon in honor of Nahel was followed by escalating confrontations, with smoke billowing from cars and garbage bins set ablaze.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1185268439/more-than-600-arrests-after-a-new-night-of-protests-across-france-over-teens-kil
The incident in Clamart and Neuilly-sur-Marne led to riots and deaths of two teenage boys in France
In order to prevent public unrest, the town of Clamart imposed an overnight curfew through Monday. A similar curfew was announced in the town of Neuilly-sur-Marne in the eastern suburbs.
The unrest extended as far as Brussels, the Belgian capital city and EU administrative hub, where about a dozen people were detained during scuffles related to the shooting in France. The fires were brought under control, according to the police spokeswoman.
The prosecutor, Prache, said Nahel looked so young they tried to stop him for driving in a bus lane with Polish license plates. He allegedly ran a red light to avoid being stopped then got stuck in traffic.
The scenes in France’s suburbs echoed 2005, when the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traoré and 17-year-old Zyed Benna led to three weeks of riots, exposing anger and resentment in neglected housing projects. The boys were killed in a power station as they hid from the police.
A police spokesperson said 13 people who didn’t comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by police last year. This year, three people, including Nahel, have died in similar circumstances.
Citing France’s history of colonial and racist behavior toward Arabs and Black people, Fleming added, “So it really matters that this boy who was killed was North African — French North African.”
“The reality is that it’s not inexplicable. It’s not rocket science, it’s racism,” said Fleming, the author of Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France.
French Teen Police Shooting Protests Nahel, 43: “Is Our Police Like America”?” a Comment on Nahel’s Death
Critics say that Macron and other leaders are showing sympathy — but not an intent to examine whether the problems that led to Nahel’s death run deeper than a single officer’s actions.
Similar to the Floyd case in the U.S., videos of Nahel’s encounter with police have amplified public anger and distrust, after eyewitnesses and surveillance video contradicted the official narrative.
“You are going to get a bullet in the head,” a voice is heard saying, according to the France24 news outlet. A single shot is heard as the car moves forward. Nahel died at the scene; his car rolled forward, coming to a stop after hitting a utility pole.
Two other people were in the car with Nahel — one has spoken to police, but the other fled the scene and was being sought by law enforcement, Jarry said.
The two officers were riding their motorcycles when they attempted to stop the car after seeing it speed through bus lanes, according to France’s BFM TV, citing a timeline issued by the prosecutor’s office. The driver of the car didn’t stop until he was cut off by a traffic jam.
The officer who admitted to shooting his gun said that it was because he wanted to stop the vehicle or someone else, the newspaper La Montagne reported.
Marine Tondelier, leader of the Green party, was quoted as saying “You get the feeling that our police is going to be like America’s.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1185394143/france-teen-police-shooting-protests-nahel
Justice pour Nahel: The Last Stand Against Protesting in the City of Rio de Janeiro, Nicaragua, April 13, 2015
The chant heard repeatedly is, “Justice pour Nahel,” but while the protest center around the teenager’s tragic death, demonstrators’ demands go further.
From the mayor to the president, authorities expressed their condolences and support for Nahel’s family this week, along with a pledge to hold police accountable. But as protests intensified, leaders have increasingly focused on trying to control the crowds and prevent damage, deploying tens of thousands of police.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin showed public support for the police and other emergency personnel, issuing a letter thanking them for their restraint.
Jarry and others pleaded with protesters not to damage buildings used by residents for critical services. He said a cultural center and leisure center have been damaged or destroyed.