Thousands of people took to the streets of a Paris suburb on Thursday for a silent march to remember a French teen killed by police during a traffic stop. The protest, led by the victim's mother, comes as 40,000 police are mobilised across the country in response to violent unrest that followed the shooting of 17-year-old Nahel M.
"No justice, no peace," the crowds chanted, adding: "Everyone hates the police!".
Nahel's mother Mounia waved at the crowds from an open top truck wearing a white t-shirt with the slogan "Justice for Nahel 27/06/23".
The teenager was shot in the chest at point-blank range in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday in an incident captured on video that has revived long-standing concerns in France over police tactics.
The police officer involved has been formally charged with voluntary homicide and remanded in custody, prosecutors said on Thursday afternoon.
More than 6,000 people turned up for the march in memory of the victim, according to a police count.
Witnesses reported seeing clashes on the fringes of the rally, including objects being thrown at police and officers using tear gas.
It follows a night of unrest in which cars were torched, buildings vandalised and nearly 200 people arrested.
Paris public transport reduced
With protests expected to continue into Thursday night, bus and tram services in and around Paris will be reduced over the evening and halted altogether from 9:00 pm, said the president of the surrounding Ile de France region, Valerie Pecresse.
After several trams and buses were targeted at Wednesday's protests, the decision was made "to ensure the protection of staff and passengers", she posted on Twitter.
Metro and overground train services were expected to run as normal, according to public transport operator RATP.
Interior Minister Gérald 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, referring to vandalism directed at public buildings including city offices and schools.
Darmanin said that 40,000 police would be mobilised across the country on Thursday night.
Police officer detained
Police initially reported that an officer had shot the teenager because he was driving straight at him, but this was contradicted by video footage 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 did not meet the "legal conditions for the usage of firearms", according to a preliminary investigation.
Prosecutor Pascal Prache said the officer is being investigated for intentional homicide.
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.
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.
"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."
'Avengers'
In the region around Nanterre, masked demonstrators dressed in black launched fireworks and firecrackers at security forces.
Journalists with French news agency AFP 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.
"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)
