The peaceful march in honor of the 17-year-old who was killed by police on Tuesday in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, began this Thursday afternoon with his mother leading the demonstration and calling for justice.
The “white march”, called by the mother of the young man who was shot in the chest by police, started early in the afternoon with the presence of thousands of participants grouped behind a banner with the slogan “Justice for Nahel”. , to the shout of “Never”.
The same slogan, “Justice for Nahel,” also appears on the “t-shirt” used by the young man’s mother, who reportedly disobeyed a traffic stop Tuesday, captured by surveillance cameras and whose death caused two consecutive nights. of urban violence in France.
Surrounded by great security measures, the march was peaceful, although tensions arose at the end of the route, next to the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department (Hauts de Seine, located in the Île-de-Seine region). France and of which Nanterre is the capital), with police firing tear gas grenades, leading to the dispersal of the protesters.
In the course of the morning, Nanterre’s public prosecutor, Pascal Prache, announced that the policeman, a 38-year-old motorcyclist, would be brought before two investigating judges for sentencing later in the day.
“The Attorney General believes that the legal conditions for the use of the weapon have not been met,” he said.
The Attorney General of the Republic asked for the police officer’s preventive detention, a rare option in this type of case.
“We regret that the prosecutor’s office considered the possible complicity of the second police officer in voluntary manslaughter and the possible falsification of public documents as a result of the false initial statements made by the gunman, who had formally stated that young Nahel had tried to get him over with the vehicle,” the family lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou, said in a statement.
According to a video that the France-Presse news agency (AFP) said it had confirmed its veracity, one of the two police officers pointed a gun at Nahel and fired at close range.
The case reignited controversy over policing in France, which recorded a record 13 deaths in 2022 after refusing to obey orders, and sparked long-standing tensions between youths and police in slums and other deprived areas of France.
Today, the French right has called for a state of emergency, with Républicains party chairman Eric Ciotti calling for the exceptional measures taken in November 2005 to be introduced “without delay”.
“We can mobilize a huge amount of resources […] without having to resort to specific articles of the constitution,” responded French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, announcing a greater security mobilization for Thursday evening: 40,000 police and gendarmes mobilized, including 5,000 in Paris (compared to 2,000 last night)
“We will do everything we can to restore order,” Darmanin stressed, indicating that the mobilization of security forces scheduled for today is four times the force deployed last night, the disturbances of which have not been stopped. -caused serious injuries to approximately 170 security forces. agents police.
The first clashes with police broke out on Tuesday night on the outskirts of Nanterre in Paris, where Nahel was killed. the government deployed 2,000 police on Wednesday to maintain order, but violence resumed after dark.
French President Emmanuel Macron this Thursday considered unjustified the “scenes of violence” against the “institutions of the Republic”, referring to last night’s disturbances.
Source: DN
