Cars are set on fire during protests in Nanterre, west of Paris, on June 28, 2023, a day after a 17-year-old boy was shot dead by police for refusing to obey.
Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt | Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt AFP | Getty Images
Protesters in the working-class Paris suburb of Nanterre fired fireworks at police and set cars on fire on Wednesday, the second night of unrest after a 17-year-old boy was shot dead at a traffic stop.
Police’s use of deadly force against the North African teen has deepened entrenched perceptions of police violence in the multiethnic suburbs of the French metropolis.
Shortly before midnight, fireworks were set off from the police line on Pablo Picasso Avenue in Nanterre, and a row of overturned vehicles was burned.
Police clashed with protesters in the northern city of Lille and Toulouse in the southwest, while riots also broke out in Amiens, Dijon and the Essonne district south of the French capital, a police spokesman said.
French media reported events at many other locations in the greater Paris area. Videos on social media showed dozens of fireworks going off at the town hall of Montreuil on the eastern edge of Paris.
Earlier, President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting “unexplainable and inexcusable”.
A police officer has been charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of a teen and is under investigation. Prosecutors said he failed to obey the stop order.
The Interior Ministry appealed to the public to remain calm and said 2,000 police officers had been deployed in the Paris region.
Human rights groups have accused French law enforcement of systemic racism, an accusation Macron has previously denied.
A video shared on social media showed two police officers next to the Mercedes-AMG, one of whom shot the driver at point-blank range as the car drove away, confirmed by Reuters. He died of his injuries a short time later, local prosecutors said.
“You have a very clear video of a police officer killing a 17-year-old. You can see that the shooting was not in compliance,” said Yassine Bouzrou, the family’s lawyer.
Lawmakers observed a minute’s silence in the National Assembly, with Prime Minister Elizabeth Bohn saying the shooting was “clearly not in compliance”.
The family has filed a legal complaint against the officer for homicide, conspiracy to murder and false testimony, the lawyer said.
In a video shared on TikTok, a woman identified as the victim’s mother called for a memorial march in Nanterre on Thursday. “Come everybody, we will lead a rebellion for my son,” she said.
unusually frank
Tuesday’s shooting was the third fatal shooting during French traffic jams so far in 2023, down from last year’s record 13, a spokesman for the French National Police said.
There were three such killings in 2021 and two in 2020, according to a Reuters tally, suggesting most victims since 2017 were black or Arab.
French human rights monitors have opened an investigation into the death, the sixth of its kind in 2022 and 2023.
With senior politicians often reluctant to criticize the police given voter safety concerns, Macron was unusually candid.
Two major police unions have hit back, saying officers in custody should be presumed innocent unless otherwise found.
He has faced criticism from rivals who have accused him of being soft on drug dealers and petty criminals and implementing policies aimed at curbing crime in the city, including giving police greater powers to fine people.
Before violence erupted for a second night in a row, some in Nanterre had expressed hope that the unrest would end quickly.
Local resident Fatima said: “Resisting like we did yesterday will not change things, we need to discuss and talk.”