Widespread protests has engulfed cities in France after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old who failed to stop when ordered to by traffic police.
Naël M, a seventeen-year-old teen, was shot dead yesterday by a police officer in Nanterre, west of Paris.
A Video clip making the rounds on social media shows a police officer pointing a gun at the driver of a car before a gunshot is heard. The car then crashes to a stop.
Despite help from emergency services, the driver of the vehicle, Naël M, died of bullet wounds in the chest.
The officer accused of shooting him has been arrested on homicide charges.
Naël is the second person to be killed by traffic police in France this year. Thirteen people were killed the same way in France last year.
According to Le Monde, a French newspaper, the police officers initially stated that the teen drove his car towards them to hurt them.
But footage posted online shows two officers at the vehicle. One points his weapon at the driver through the window and appears to fire at point-blank range as he tries to drive off.
Two other people were in the car at the time of the shooting; one ran, and another, also a minor, was apprehended and detained by police.
Overnight, the incident provoked outrage, chaos and protest, with cars and trash cans set on fire and bus shelters demolished. In addition, fireworks were set off near the police station. Riot police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators, some of whom built barricades all night.
Protests were also recorded in the towns of Asnières, Colombes, Suresnes, Aubervilliers, Clichy-sous-Bois, and Mantes-la-Jolie over the incident.
It was reported that about 24 people were arrested as a result of the protest, which started in Nanterre, where the shooting occurred.
Commenting on the killing, Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez told French television station BFMTV that the policeman’s actions “raised questions”, though he claimed the officer may have felt threatened.
Yassine Bouzrou, the 17-year-old’s family lawyer insisted that was an illegitimate defense, telling the same channel the video “clearly showed a policeman killing a young man in cold blood”.
He further stated that the family had filed a complaint against the police for “lying” – after initially claiming the car had tried to run down the officers.
Reacting to the killing, France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the video making the rounds on social media was “extremely shocking”.
He urged the people and protesters to “respect the grief of the family and the presumption of innocence of the police”.
