The grandmother of Nahel M., the French teen whose death, shot by a police officer, sparked five nights of rioting, issued an appeal for calm this Sunday, asking people to “stop and not riot.”
“I say to people who are angry, don’t break windows, don’t attack schools or buses. Stop! It’s the mothers who catch the buses, it’s the mothers who are out there,” Nahel’s grandmother, Nadia, told BFM television . that those who participated violently in the protests use their grandson as a pretext.
However, Nadia condemned the demonstrations in support of the policeman who shot his grandson.
Columnist Jean Messiha, who supported Éric Zemmour’s 2022 far-right presidential candidacy after being passed over by Le Pen’s Front National, launched a fundraiser for the agent’s family, stressing that he was limited to doing his work and that “he pays a high price” for his action.
This initiative “breaks my heart,” Nadia noted, blaming the cop for her grandson’s death.
The French government also asked this Sunday to avoid generalizations about the French police following the case and guaranteed that justice will investigate in case of abuse.
“It must be ensured that generalizations are not made on the basis of a specific situation. This, I believe, is the message that our security forces mobilized on the ground must hear,” the French government defended, according to statements by the spokesman. voice of the executive, Olivier Véran, to the public channel FranceInfo.
Nahel, a 17-year-old young man of Arab descent, was fatally shot by a police officer on Tuesday, June 27, as he tried to flee a stop operation in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris.
The footage of the young Frenchman being shot dead by a policeman, captured by witnesses, sparked outrage in France, culminating in street protests, especially in social housing in major cities and in the Paris metropolitan region.
Fighting in France against security forces began in Nanterre on Tuesday evening and has since been recorded daily with thousands of people in the streets.
On Saturday, the fifth consecutive night of rioting in France, at least 719 people were arrested and 45 police officers were injured, the interior ministry said today.
In a publication on his personal account on the social network Twitter, the French Minister of the Interior, Gérard Darmanin, indicated that despite the incidents, the night from Saturday to today was quieter than the previous one, a fact which, in his opinion, is due to a greater presence of security forces on the streets.
Nahel’s funeral ceremonies took place on Saturday in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, with a private vigil, ceremony at the mosque and burial at a local cemetery attended by hundreds of people.
The police officer suspected of the death of the young man charged with murder has been arrested and remains in custody.
Source: DN
