- Protests erupt in Paris after fatal police shooting of adolescent
- France deploys 40,000 officers amid fears of third night of riots
- Calls for calm as tensions rise over police abuse and social inequalities
Thousands took to the streets following the release of a video showing an adolescent, identified only by his first name Nahel, being shot during a traffic stop in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday.
Fears of a third night of riots in the capital, sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old boy, will prompt France to deploy 40,000 officers on Thursday evening.
Bus and tram services will also end early so that they are not “targets for thugs and vandals,” according to a Paris region official.
Meanwhile, a town in the southwest suburbs of the capital proclaimed a weekend-long overnight curfew.
Clamart, a town of 54,000, announced a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew from Thursday to Monday.
Thousands took to the streets following the release of a video showing an adolescent, identified only by his first name Nahel, being shot during a traffic stop in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday.
The clip shocked France and rekindled police-youth tensions in housing projects and other disadvantaged communities.
The officer who fired the fatal shot will be investigated for voluntary homicide following the conclusion of an initial investigation that “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.”
“When covering a protest in France, it doesn’t take long to see a police officer in uniform.
Today, however, the message is crystal plain. The police are perceived to be the adversary.”
Those gathered to demonstrate against Nahel’s death expressed condolences to his mother.
“The atmosphere is certainly tense, and many young people are threatening to return to the streets tonight and continue the violence we have witnessed across France since Nahel’s death.”
“The march concluded in a symbolic location, a large square near the Prefecture building in Nanterre.
“For starters, it’s a legislative center that was, unavoidably, heavily policed.
It was also very close to the spot where Nahel was shot by a police officer on Tuesday morning. His vehicle collided with another vehicle at one of the square’s corners.
“Up until this point, the march had been agitated and loud, but no violence had occurred.
“When confronted by teams of riot police in the square, everything transformed. One side fired tear gas and stun grenades, while the other fired rocks, flares, and pyrotechnics.
“It was perhaps inevitable. The conclusion of a police-suspicious march with plumes of tear gas and confrontation was certainly not unexpected. Now we await the outcome of tonight’s events.”
This morning, ministers called for calm as they convened for a crisis meeting.
Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin stated, “Professionals in disorder must return home.
“The state’s response will be extremely firm,” he continued.
In addition, the minister confirmed that the number of officers on patrol tonight would more than quadruple from 9,000 to 40,000, with the number of officers deployed in the Paris region alone more than doubling to 5,000.
Wednesday evening, despite an enhanced police presence, demonstrations spread to other cities.
Nanterre protesters fired fireworks and hurled stones at police, who responded with repeated rounds of tear gas.
Schools, police stations, town halls, and other public structures were damaged from Toulouse in the south to Lille in the north as police and firefighters battled to quell the riots and put out multiple fires.
However, a spokesperson for the national police stated that the majority of damage occurred in the Paris suburbs.
Mr. Darmanin stated that 170 officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the unrest.
Pascal Prache, the local prosecutor in Nanterre, stated that officers attempted to halt Nahel because he appeared to be so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish license plates in the bus lane.
To avoid being halted, he ran a red light but ended up in a traffic jam.
Both involved officers claimed they drew their weapons to prevent him from fleeing.
Mr. Prache said the officer who fired one shot believed the vehicle would hit him, his colleague, or someone else.
A family attorney for Nahel told the Associated Press that the police officer should be charged with murder, not manslaughter.
President Macron convened an emergency meeting regarding the violence on Thursday.
Mr. Macron stated at the beginning of the meeting, which intended to secure hotspots and plan for the upcoming days “so complete peace can return,” that “these acts are completely unjustifiable.”
Activists in France have renewed their calls to address what they perceive to be systemic police abuse, especially in neighborhoods where many residents contend with poverty and racial or class discrimination.
