Wed 28 June 2023:
France is bracing for further protests, after police shot dead a teenager, an incident which French President Emmanuel Macron said, has “moved the entire nation”.
Clashes broke out between demonstrators and police overnight, after an officer killed the French-Algerian teenager, in a Paris suburb, Nanterre.
The officer fired at the boy, who subsequently died from his wounds, the Nanterre prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday. A video shared on social media shows two police officers beside the car, a Mercedes AMG, one of whom shoots, as the driver pulls away.
Local residents held a protest outside the police headquarters. Tensions soared later on Tuesday; demonstrators lit fires, set a car alight, destroyed bus stops and threw firecrackers towards police, who responded with tear gas and dispersion grenades.
“As a mother from Nanterre, I have a feeling of insecurity for our children,” said Mornia Labssi, a local resident and anti-racism campaigner, who said she had spoken to the victim’s family, which she said was of Algerian origin.
The Paris police chief, Laurent Nunez, told BFM TV that “this act raises questions for me” and that the justice system would decide whether or not it was appropriate.
The French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, tweeted that the General Inspectorate of the National Police was investigating “to shed light on the circumstances of this drama”.
After a record 13 deaths from police shootings in France during traffic stops last year, this was the second fatal incident in such circumstances in 2023.
Three people were killed by police gunfire after refusing to comply with a traffic stop in 2021 and two in 2020. A Reuters tally of fatal shootings in 2021 and 2022 shows the majority of victims were black or Arabic origin.
A Reuters news agency tally of fatal shootings, in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two shows, the majority of victims were Black or of Arabic origin.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
______________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
