The death of a young man at the hands of police in the French city of Nanterre while attempting to escape has sparked a series of disturbances in the Paris suburbs in recent hours, leading security forces to detain 24 people.
The head of the Paris police, Laurent Núñez, explained to the CNews channel this Wednesday that the protesters set fire to 42 vehicles, in addition to machines used in construction, and insisted that the 350 police officers who were deployed, thefts in shops and other buildings occurred. .
“The device will last as long as it takes,” Núñez said of the maintenance of the police device in the coming days, adding 24 members of the security forces were injured in the clashes.
Refus d’obtempérer à Nanterre: nuit de tensions, 20 personnes interpellées https://t.co/10ZowXQ6eB
– CNEWS (@CNEWS) June 28, 2023
Refus d’obtempérer à Nanterre: «J’en appelle au calme et à l’apaisement», by Laurent Nuñez https://t.co/IHHPD2E4dm
– CNEWS (@CNEWS) June 28, 2023
The same source added that these disturbances were already expected, following Tuesday morning’s incident in Nanterre, alluding to the death of Naël, a young man with an alleged criminal record who was driving without papers and who, after being detained by the police, tried to flee with the vehicle and was eventually shot dead.
Witness-recorded video of the events shows one of the officers, a 38-year-old brigadier general, pointing the gun directly at the young man next to the driver’s window while the other was talking to him from the same side. Both agents have been arrested.
Refus d’obtempérer à Nanterre: ce que l’on sait https://t.co/m5AwHvbeEs
– CNEWS (@CNEWS) June 28, 2023
Tensions in Nanterre: a burning allumé in a second urban district pic.twitter.com/Rv7dfVnsC2
-BFMTV (@BFMTV) June 27, 2023
Justice opened two investigations, one of them for voluntary manslaughter. The second because of the victim’s escape. This decision has outraged the young man’s family, who, according to his lawyer, “cannot pass judgment on a dead person in France”.
Speaking to the France Info station, Cambla indicated that the family plans to file a complaint for forgery as the officers involved in the incident lied in their initial statement.
He insisted that the police response was “absolutely illegal” and “didn’t fall within the scope of self-defense” because “feeling threatened is not enough to put a bullet in the chest.”
This incident provoked a political backlash, especially from some leftist leaders, who denounced the high number of deaths at the hands of police elements, who rely on self-defense, especially when the driver flees a checkpoint.
French star Kylian Mbappé also responded, writing in a post on his Twitter account: “France hurts me. An unacceptable situation. I am with the family and relatives of Naël, this little angel who left too soon.”
Source: DN
