France to deploy 40,000 police to quell violence over teen shooting

French Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin says 40,000 police are to be be mobilised across the country on Thursday night in response to violent unrest that followed the shooting death of a teenage motorist. Nahel M, 17, was shot in the chest at point-blank range on Tuesday morning by police after being pulled over for breaking traffic rules.

Burnt cars in Nanterre, western Paris, on June 29, 2023, two days after a 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest by police at point-blank range. AFP - BERTRAND GUAY

Darmanin said 170 security personnel had been injured in clashes with protesters overnight Wednesday that resulted in 180 arrests.

"This wasn't about small protest. It was about a small group of people deciding to attack the symbols of the republic," he said.

Police initially reported that an officer had shot the teenager because he was driving at him, but this was contradicted by a video circulating on social media.

The prosecutor for the Paris suburb of Nanterre told a press conference on Thursday that the police officer who shot Nahel M. did not meet the "legal conditions for the usage of firearms", according to a preliminary investigation. 

Prosecutor Pascal Prache said the police officer involved in the incident is being investigated for intentional homicide and recommended he be detained. 

The incident has reignited debate in France about police tactics long criticised by rights groups over the treatment of people in low-income suburbs, particularly ethnic minorities.

Last year, 13 people were killed after refusing to stop for police traffic checks, with a law change in 2017 that gave officers greater powers to use their weapons now under scrutiny.

In a sign of the seriousness of the situation, President Emmanuel Macron called an early morning crisis meeting of his ministers, the Elysee announced.

Tribute march

The teenager's mother called for a march on Thursday afternoon in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where he was killed, in tribute to her only child.

For a second night, violence erupted after midnight on Wednesday in the Paris region, where around 2,000 riot police had been deployed. Unrest was reported in other French cities, including Toulouse, Dijon and Lyon.

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"A night of intolerable violence against symbols of the republic, with town halls, schools and police stations set on fire or attacked," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter as he announced the 150 arrests figure.

He expressed support for police but added in an apparent swipe at the hard-left: "Shame on those who did not call for calm."

In the region around Nanterre, masked demonstrators dressed in black launched fireworks and firecrackers at security forces.

Police forces clash with youths in Nanterre, outside Paris, Thursday, June 29, 2023. AP - Christophe Ena

'Avengers'

AFP journalists saw more than a dozen cars and garbage cans set ablaze and barriers blocking off roads.

Graffiti sprayed on the walls of one building called for "justice for Nahel" and said, "police kill".

In the working-class 18th and 19th districts of northeastern Paris, police fired flashballs to disperse protesters burning rubbish, but instead of leaving, the crowd responded by throwing bottles.

"We are sick of being treated like this. This is for Nahel, we are Nahel," said two young men calling themselves "Avengers" as they wheeled rubbish bins from a nearby estate to add to a burning barricade.

In the Essonne region south of the capital, a group set a bus on fire after forcing all the passengers off, police said, while in Clamart a tram was set on fire.

Prison attacked

In the southern city of Toulouse, several cars were torched and responding police and firefighters pelted with projectiles, a police source said, while authorities reported similar scenes in Dijon and Lyon.

At France's second-largest prison complex, Fresnes, protesters attacked security at the entrance with fireworks, a police source told AFP.

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"They did not enter the prison grounds. The police were quickly called in," the source added.

France is haunted by the prospect of a repeat of 2005 riots sparked by the death of two black boys during a police chase. Those protests resulted in around 6,000 people arrested.

(with AFP)