Violent protests
Macron calls police officer’s deadly shot at 17-year-old ‘unforgivable’
French President Emmanuel Macron commented on the shots at the young people during his visit to Marseille
© Ludovic Marin / Pool / AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron reacted with compassion and clear words to the death of a 17-year-old by a police gunshot. After violent protests, he calls for calm in the country.
In view of the violent protests on Tuesday evening, the President also urgently called for “calm” throughout the country. “We need calm everywhere because we don’t need a conflagration, a worsening situation.”
Shots were fired during a traffic stop
17-year-old Nahel M. was shot dead on Tuesday in the driver’s seat of a car during a traffic check in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The police initially said the car had hit two motorcycle police officers near the La Défense business district in Paris. In a video distributed on the Internet, which was checked for authenticity by the AFP news agency, it was then possible to see how two police officers stopped the vehicle for a check. One of the two police officers aimed his gun at the driver through the car window and then fired at close range when the car suddenly accelerated.
After a few meters, the car crashed into a post. The 17-year-old driver, Nahel M., died a short time later from a gunshot wound in the chest, despite attempts by rescue workers to revive him. In the video, the sentence could be heard during the check: “You’ll get a bullet in the head.” The shooter, a 38-year-old police officer, was arrested; his police custody was extended on Wednesday.
In view of the investigation, French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne emphasized the “absolute need for truth so that calmness can triumph over anger”. Nanterre’s left-leaning Mayor Patrick Jarry also called for calm, saying images of the incident had sparked outrage and anger in Naël M’s hometown of Nanterre. “Our city is shocked, damaged, hurt and concerned by this outpouring of violence,” Jarry said. “We want justice and we will get it.”
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After the 17-year-old’s death, there were angry protests and violent clashes between residents and police officers in Nanterre and other Parisian suburbs during the night. According to the police, 24 officers were slightly injured and 31 people arrested. In Nanterre in particular, several buildings, including a school, were damaged. More than 40 cars and a town hall in the municipality of Mantes-la-Jolie near Paris burned out. Riots were also reported from other cities, including Dijon and Bordeaux.
The authorities then mobilized 2,000 security forces for Paris and its suburbs on Wednesday evening, according to the Interior Ministry. 1,200 police officers were on duty on Tuesday evening.
The incident reignited the debate about police violence in France. After traffic controls where orders were not followed, 13 people died last year, more than ever before.