In several suburbs of Paris, the atmosphere was stirred again last night after the death of Naël, the 17-year-old boy killed by a police officer in Nanterre on Tuesday. Once again, cars, trucks and garbage cans were set on fire by angry mobs. In Nanterre, a protester was reportedly taken to hospital for medical treatment after being shot by a police officer.
The police are on the move with 2,000 officers in the Paris suburbs, 800 more than the night before. The agents were bombarded with, among other things, Molotov cocktails, stones and fireworks. The police fired rubber bullets at the rioters. Police cars and police stations were set on fire, here and there a window was broken.
In Fresnes, a Parisian suburb near Orly airport, rioters attacked the entrance to the local prison. The police managed to prevent the rioters from entering the prison. As of 02:00 in the morning, the region’s police had made 77 arrests.
Other cities
It was also restless in other French cities and the police had to act. This was the case in Paris, Lille, Roubaix, Nice and Toulouse, among others.
Naël was behind the wheel of a car on Tuesday morning which was stopped for a traffic check by two policemen on motorbikes. Naël accelerated and set off quickly. One of the two officers then fired at the car, killing the young driver.
Initially, police said an officer fired when a vehicle ran over two police motorcyclists. However, a video released on social media shows that one of the two officers kept the driver at close range while the car was stationary. As the car drove away, the officer shot and hit Naël in the chest. Earlier he had been told, “You’re going to get a bullet in the head.”
Macron and Mbappé
Naël’s death caused a lot of emotion in France. A range of national figures, from head of state Emmanuel Macron to French national football team captain Kylian Mbappé, have expressed their disapproval of the incident. MPs and government members observed a minute’s silence in the National Assembly on Wednesday afternoon in tribute to the teenager.
Naël’s mother called a silent march through Nanterre on Thursday afternoon. The journey should lead to the prefecture, the administrative office of the department of which Nanterre is the capital.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
