A 17-year-old who refused to stop when told to do so by traffic police was shot and killed by police overnight, sparking protests and disturbances in the Paris region. Despite the assistance of emergency personnel, the adolescent, Nahel, passed away from bullet wounds to the chest.
On homicide-related allegations, the cop who is alleged to have shot the boy is in custody.
In the social media video, it can be seen before the vehicle abruptly stops, a police officer is seen aiming a gun at the person driving the car after which firing is heard.
After the circulated video protestors have come to the ground demanding justice for Nahel. Several violent protests were reported from the west of Paris in Nanterre on the 27th night. Following the disorder, 31 persons were taken into custody.
France saw a similar number of cases of Police Brutality last year which killed 13 people and this year Nahel has become a second victim of such violence.
The police first alleged that the boy intentionally rammed his car into them, reported French media. But the online circulating video which has also been verified by Agence France-Presse (AFP), tells an entirely different story.
Two police officers may be seen in the car. As the driver tries to drive away, one police officer points his rifle at him through the window and seems to fire at a point-blank range. AFP has also claimed that in the said video a person can be heard threatening to fire a gunshot, however, it is not very clear who has threatened whom.
There were at least two more people in the car, one of them ran away, and the other person was arrested by police, this person is also reported to be a minor.
Overnight, the incident caused violence all over Paris, bus shelters, cars and trash cans were set ablaze by protestors, and the anger and havoc is very evident in all areas. Protestors threw fireworks at the police station, and reacting to this, the police counterattacked with tear gas and set barricades all night.
Authorities opened two separate investigations after the teen’s murder: one into a possible official killing and another into the driver’s inability to stop his car and the alleged attempt to kill a police officer.
Despite claiming that the officer might have felt threatened, Paris police chief Laurent Nuez told French news station BFMTV that the officer’s actions raise concerns.
Yassine Bouzrou, the family’s attorney, claimed that the video is full proof against policemen, as it is clear in the video who killed the young man. and claimed that this was an invalid explanation. He proceeded by saying that after first claiming the car had tried to run down the cops, the family had protested to the police for lying.
A different attorney representing the victim’s family, Jennifer Cambla, informed the local media that the death could not be justified and referred to it as an execution.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, described Nahel’s murder as both unexplained and reprehensible and noted that the tragedy had affected the entire country. Nothing, he argued, excuses the death of a young person, and he urged restraint so that justice may be served.
If the investigation supports the footage we have seen, I want to state that an act like the one we have witnessed is never justifiable, Mr Darmanin told French media on Wednesday.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a prominent member of the left, sent his deepest sympathies to the teen’s family. He stated in a tweet that no police have the right to kill unless it’s in self-defence. The state’s authority is tarnished by an out-of-control police force. He continued that it needed to be entirely redone.
Just 2 weeks ago, a similar incident of police violence occurred in Angouleme, where again a teen of 19 years died after being shot by police during a traffic violation.
