The popular suburbs of French cities are a social tinderbox always in danger of exploding. It happened again, Tuesday night, in Nanterre and other satellite towns of Paris, shaken by an eruption of violence after the death, hours before, by a police shot, of Naël, a 17-year-old boy who was driving a vehicle and tried to flee a checkpoint. The Ministry of the Interior mobilized two thousand agents yesterday to contain possible disturbances in the most sensitive places.
There were multiple reactions of outrage at what happened, especially since the fatal episode was recorded on video, and the images were disseminated by the media and social networks. The events took place on Tuesday morning near the RER suburban metro station in Nanterre, on the western outskirts of the capital. A couple of police officers on motorcycles stopped a yellow Mercedes, which had apparently been rented by another person, which was circulating in the bus lane. The driver stopped and, after a brief exchange with officers, sped off again. In the video you can see and hear how one of the policemen fires his weapon. The young man was hit in the chest and could not be revived.
The police officer involved was arrested and was still being questioned yesterday. Abdelmadjid Benamara, a lawyer for the victim’s family, told BFM-TV that it was a premeditated and unnecessary death, that the agent was not in front of the vehicle, as the first police version claimed, but to the side, next to the window, and his life was not in danger, so the shot was not justified.
Most police unions reacted prudently, aware of the seriousness of the incident, which may have a negative impact on an already problematic public image of the police in some quarters. But a minority union, France Police, posted a message on social networks, later withdrawn, that caused a scandal. “Bravo to the colleagues who opened fire on a 17-year-old criminal,” the text said. By neutralizing his vehicle, they protected his life and that of other road users. The only ones responsible for the death of this delinquent are his parents, unable to educate his son. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, considered the message “abject” and announced that he would take the case to justice and that he would study whether the small union could be dissolved.
In addition to Nanterre, there was burning of vehicles and street furniture in other towns in the Paris region such as Mantes-la-Jolie, Suresnes, Colombes and Clichy-sous-Bois. In Nanterre, a local council building went up in flames. In total there were thirty detainees, 48 ??vehicles and more than 300 burned garbage containers.
The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who is visiting Marseille for three days – precisely to address the serious problem of security and mafia crime in France’s second city – expressed his dismay and solidarity with the family before an “inexplicable” and inexcusable fact, as well as “the emotion of the entire nation.” “I want the truth to come out,” he said. “Calm is needed for justice to be done.”
The Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, maintained that “wearing the uniform is responding to a duty of exemplarity”. According to the head of the Government, “the intervention (of the police) was clearly not in accordance with the rules.” “The images suggest that the framework of a legal intervention was not respected,” she added. The National Assembly observed a minute of silence for the boy’s death. From the Chamber, the former presidential candidate of the extreme right, Marine Le Pen, was saddened by the death of the boy, but she criticized Macron for rushing to assess him and thus interfering in the work of justice.
Among the reactions of public figures, that of the actor Omar Sy stood out, who asked for “a justice worthy of his name in honor of the memory of this child.” The footballer Jules Koundé described what happened as “dramatic”, condemned the police brutality and admitted that “my France hurts me”. “All my thoughts go out to the family and those close to this little angel who has left too soon,” Kylian Mbappé, the PSG star and captain of the French team, tweeted.
Naël’s mother, who lived alone with him, sent a video message calling for a “white march” (demonstration) and a “riot for my son” in front of the Nanterre prefecture, today, at two in the afternoon.
