2023-06-28 17:36:40
A new case of police abuse has shocked (and ignited) French society. the teenager Nahel M., 17 years olddied Tuesday morning after receiving a point-blank shot inside a vehicle during a police control in Nanterrepopulation located northwest of the region of Paris. It represents the nth case in France of a citizen who loses his life for not obeying an order from the security forces, whose easy resort to the trigger has generated growing indignation in the bustling neighboring country, especially among the inhabitants of the suburbs (Popular neighbourhoods). Anger over the brutal murder of Nahel led to a riot night in Nanterre and other towns on the Parisian outskirts.
The spark that fueled the outrage over this death was the shocking images of a police officer shooting at him from the open window of the car of the adolescent In them two agents are seen leaning over a yellow Mercedes AMG. When the vehicle advances a few centimeters, they shoot the driver at point blank range, who died less than an hour later due to the gunshot wound near the heart. In that recording, with a mobile phone, you can also hear how the agent threatens the young driver before shooting him: “You are going to take a bullet to the head.” And the other says: “Shoot him.”
Kylian Mbappé, Omar Sy, Jul … These personalities spoke following the death of Nahel, 17, killed by a policeman in Nanterre during a traffic check pic.twitter.com/N9W5EEXZ2X
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) June 28, 2023
The video not only circulated like wildfire on social networks, but also contradicted the version given by the security forces. The agents assured that the shooting was due to the driver trying to run them over. But that does not correspond to the reality of the images, in which the agents are seen on the side of the vehicle and that it does not represent any threat to them. “For this reason, we also prepared a complaint for falsification of a public document,” said the lawyer for the victim’s family, Yassine Bouzrou —a renowned lawyer specializing in cases of police violence—, who also denounced the police for “voluntary homicide ” and “complicity in voluntary manslaughter”.
More than 40 cars burned
The Nanterre prosecutor’s office opened a “voluntary manslaughter” investigation against the agent who killed the adolescent and another for “disobedience to authority and attempted homicide” against the victim. The policeman responsible for the events is currently in custody. In Nahel’s vehicle, there were two other passengers: one of them was released after being questioned and the other escaped and his whereabouts are currently unknown.
“I hope they convict him and take away his police badge. It’s the least they can do,” Safir, 29, a businessman in the vehicle cleaning sector, told EL PERIÓDICO, from the Prensa Ibérica group, while taking a drink. coffee at a bar in Nanterre. “It is horrible what has happened. They killed him just because he was afraid of going to prison and tried to escape“adds this resident of the Vieux-Pont neighborhood, where Nahel lived with his mother. “30 years ago, my father would not have been able to suffer a situation like this. If he had committed such a crime, the police would have recorded his license plate and then arrested him. But they wouldn’t have shot him!” says this Frenchman of North African origin.
The inhabitants of Nanterre woke up this Wednesday with the hangover of a Tuesday marked by contradictory feelings: the shock over the death of the teenager and the fear of riots during the afternoon and evening. burning barricades, more than 40 cars burnedfires in buildings, construction areas and near commuter train tracks… The security forces reported 31 detainees following the numerous incidents that occurred in Nanterre, as well as in other cities in the Paris region, such as Asnières, Colombes, Clicy-sous-Bois and Mantes-la-Jolie. In addition, 24 agents were slightly injured, the Interior Ministry said.
“I fear that young people will make a mistake and these incidents last all week“, acknowledges Safir. “they won’t stop. The neighbors are very angry,” adds Amine, 32, another resident of this “normally very quiet” neighborhood where incidents of this type are not common. Under a splendid summer sun, a tense calm — and hostility against journalists, some of which spread fake news about the victim – prevailed in the residential district of Vieux-Pont, where apartment blocks alternate with single-family houses with gardens and which is located on the border between Nanterre and Rueil-Malmaison, one of the wealthiest towns in France.
“Nothing justifies the death of a young man”
“He was a good boy, he was still a child. Someone well known in the neighborhood and who was always joking,” said two young men from the neighborhood who, like Nahel, work as food delivery boys, sitting on their motorcycles. At the moment, the reasons for the police control and the circumstances that led the adolescent to drive illegally are unknown, since he was a minor and did not have a driver’s license. The victim had no criminal record. His court box was empty, his lawyers recalled.
“Nothing justifies the death of a young man”, has reacted the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who has called the murder “inexplicable and inexcusable.” “The death penalty no longer exists in France. No police officer has the right to kill except in a situation of legitimate defense,” the rebel criticized. Jean-Luc Melenchonone of the leading figures in the gauchewho has called for “a complete re-foundation” of a police force that has been strongly penetrated by xenophobic ideas from the extreme right. To the point that 74% of these officials claimed in 2021 to sympathize with the National Regrouping of Marine Le Pen, according to a survey by the Cevipof institute.
A 17-year-old young man shot dead at point-blank range by a police officer for refusing to comply during a check. This is the reality of the situation and it is dramatic.
As if this new police blunder was not enough, the continuous news channels are making it their…
— Jules Kounde (@jkeey4) June 27, 2023
Nahel’s case has not only been condemned by a large part of the political class, but also by cultural and sports figures. “This France makes me suffer. It is an unacceptable situation,” said Kylian Mbappé, the PSG star. “As if this new police abuse was not enough, the information chains (…) they are dedicated to criminalizing the victim“, has criticized the Barça defender, Jules Koundé, known for his anti-racist commitment.
Every time it generates more unrest in the neighboring country growing number of citizens shot down by police for him simple act of disobeying (or presumably do so) to a police order. Up to 13 died last year for this reason. A trend that, according to experts, is favored by a 2017 legal reform —just after the wave of jihadist attacks— with which the situations in which agents can shoot increased. And that favored the current resort to the easy trigger. At least that is how the data reflects it: up to 26 people have died at the hands of the French police in the last five years after trying to escape with their vehicle, while between 2002 and 2017 there were 17 killed in situations of this style.
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