Protests and turmoil erupted in the Paris region overnight after police shot dead a 17-year-old who refused to stop when traffic officers told him to.
A video circulating on social media shows a police officer pointing a rifle at a car driver before firing a shot. The automobile then comes to a halt.
Despite the assistance of medical personnel, the adolescent, Nahel, died from bullet wounds in the chest.
The officer who shot him has been arrested on homicide charges.
On Tuesday night, protests erupted in Nanterre, a district just west of Paris where the teenager was killed. Following the disturbance, 31 persons were arrested.
Nahel is the second individual killed in a police shooting during a traffic stop in France this year. Last year, a record 13 people were killed in this manner.
According to French media, police initially suggested the teen drove his car towards them with the intention of hurting them.
But footage posted online and verified by the AFP news agency tells a different story.
It shows two officers at the vehicle. One points his weapon at the driver through the window and appears to fire at point-blank range as he tries to drive off.
The agency also reports that a person in the video can be heard saying “you’re going to be shot in the head” – but it is unclear who says it.
Two others were in the car at the time of the shooting – one fled while another, also a minor, was arrested and held by police.
The incident sparked anger and disorder overnight, with cars and rubbish bins set alight and bus shelters destroyed. Fireworks were also set off near the police station. Riot police used tear gas to break up protesters, some of whom created barricades throughout the night.
Several incidents of unrest were also recorded in the towns of Asnières, Colombes, Suresnes, Aubervilliers, Clichy-sous-Bois and Mantes-la-Jolie.
The shop walls along the main avenue of this Paris suburb are emblazoned with graffiti vowing “Justice for Nahel” and revenge for his death.
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For a second night, that anger has exploded against the police in barrage after barrage of fireworks, some fired directly at officers. The violence at ground level makes colourful patterns in the night sky.
One local reporter said that for a while, in the early hours of the morning, some parts of the neighbourhood had been off limits to police.
The death of a young man at the hands of police touches a nerve in suburbs that feel segregated from France’s prosperous city centers, and let down by the state.
Source: BBC
