President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday condemned “unjustifiable violence” after a second night of urban riots in France sparked by the death of a teenager killed by a police officer, who must be presented to a judge for possible indictment for ” voluntary homicide “.
Since the death of 17-year-old Nahel M. during a roadside check on Tuesday, tensions in the Paris suburbs have spread to several cities overnight Wednesday and Thursday, during which public facilities and the forces of the order were targeted. 150 people were arrested, according to the authorities.
During a crisis cell on Thursday morning, the Head of State denounced “unjustifiable violence” against “institutions and the Republic” and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called, during a trip near Paris, to avoid “any escalation”, believing that “justice is doing its job”.
At the end of his police custody, the police officer responsible for the fatal shooting of young Nahel will be presented Thursday to an examining magistrate with a view to a possible charge for “intentional homicide”, indicated the public prosecutor, who requested his remand in custody.
The conditions for the use of his weapon were “not met”, also estimated the prosecutor of Nanterre, a popular city west of Paris.
It was in this city that Nahel M. was killed Tuesday at close range during a police check justified, according to the prosecutor, by the fact that the young man was driving at high speed “on a bus lane” and that he had refused to stop at a red light.
The police version according to which the young man would have run into the biker was invalidated by a video of the drama where we hear “you are going to take a bullet in the head”, without being able to attribute this sentence to someone in particular.
On Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron had mentioned an “inexplicable” and “inexcusable” act, words criticized by the far right and the police unions in the name of the presumption of innocence. The police officer was suspended administratively, according to the authorities.
The president expressed the wish Thursday that “the next hours” will be those of “recollection” and “respect” while a white march must be held at 2:00 p.m. local time in Nanterre in memory of Nahel and at the initiative of his mother, who expressed her feeling of “revolt”.
“It’s for Nahel”
Faced with the risk of new unrest, the government announced that it would mobilize 40,000 police and gendarmes on Thursday evening, quadrupling the numbers deployed in the field in one day.
Despite pressure from right-wing and far-right leaders, however, the government has so far rejected calls for a state of emergency declared during riots that rocked the country for three weeks in 2005.
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday and despite the deployment of 9,000 men, the clashes escalated considerably, affecting many provincial towns including Lyon (south-east), Toulouse (south-west) or Brest (west).
Media library destroyed by flames, burned cars, town halls and public transport targeted: the degradations caused amazement and consternation among residents and local elected officials.
“They set everything on fire,” lamented the mayor of Mons-en-Baroeul (north), Rudy Elegeest. “The material damage is absolutely considerable. »
“I fear that this will continue and that it could even be worse,” lamented Benoit Jimenez, mayor of the Parisian suburb of Garges-les-Gonesse where the Town Hall was partially destroyed.
Transport disrupted in Paris
In several cities, groups of very mobile rioters fired fireworks mortars and threw cobblestones at the police who responded with tear gas.
“We are tired of being treated like this. This is for Nahel, we are Nahel,” said two young people, their faces masked as they pushed trash cans.
The violence also affected the northeast of Paris. On Thursday, tram and bus traffic was disrupted in the city due to the damage.
These disturbances have revived the memory of the 2005 riots which followed the accidental death of two teenagers pursued by the police in the Paris suburbs.
France has on several occasions been the scene of urban violence triggered by the death of young men, often of immigrant origin from the Maghreb and other African countries, following police interventions.
This new drama has particularly reignited the controversy over police action during road checks in France, where a record number of 13 deaths were recorded in 2022 after refusals to comply.