Deadly police shooting of 17-year-old sparks protests in France
Global News
A French police officer who shot and killed a 17-year-old driver will be investigated for voluntary homicide, prosecutors said Thursday.
A French police officer who shot and killed a 17-year-old driver will be investigated for voluntary homicide, following two days of fires and violent protests, prosecutors said Thursday.
Overnight, protesters set cars and public buildings ablaze in Paris suburbs and unrest spread to some other French cities and towns, despite increased security efforts and the president’s calls for calm.
The killing of 17-year-old Nahel during a traffic check Tuesday, captured on video, shocked the country and stirred up long-simmering tensions between young people and police in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighborhoods around France.
France will deploy 40,000 police officers overnight to quell violence that engulfed cities and towns in the wake of the deadly police shooting, France’s interior minister said Thursday.
Scores of police officers have been injured, according to ministers. The justice minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti, gave a figure of 130 police officers injured.
“All this has to stop,” the minister declared. He gave no details about the types and seriousness of the injuries.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who oversees the police, later gave a higher figure of 170 injured. He said none of the injuries were life-threatening.
Nahel’s surname has not been released by authorities or by his family. In earlier statements, lawyers for the family spelled the name Nael.