Policeman Charged In France Shooting That Killed A Teenager During A Traffic Stop

A youngster was killed on Tuesday near Paris, and a French police officer has been charged with homicide and is being held in custody.

Nahel M., a 17-year-old, was shot at close range as he drove off and wrecked shortly after.

Violence has been ignited by rage over his murder across the nation. On Thursday afternoon, fights broke out during a march that the boy’s mother was leading.

In Lille and Marseille, protestors were detained during a third night of turmoil.

The ground floor of a building housing a bank was completely destroyed by a massive fire in the village of Nanterre, where the adolescent was killed.

Videos and images shared on social media also appear to show trash mounds on fire in several locations.

In anticipation of additional violence, bus and tram service in Paris and the surrounding area was suspended at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT). Some suburbs have established curfews at night.

The cities of Lille and Tours have also seen disruptions in their transportation systems.

Following rioting in numerous French cities on Tuesday and Wednesday night that left cars and buildings destroyed, over 40,000 police have been deployed throughout France in an effort to quell the unrest.

The nation’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, reported that the fights on Wednesday night alone resulted in 170 officer injuries and 180 arrests.

On Thursday afternoon, after a mainly calm march for justice, violence broke out in Nanterre, injuring officers as well. More than 6,000 individuals came to it.

The French prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, stated that while she understood the outburst of grief following the death of the 17-year-old, she strongly disapproved of the riots.

“Nothing justifies the violence that’s occurred,” she declared.

The death of the kid has generated a wider discussion about the police’s authority and how the government interacts with residents in France’s suburbs, who feel isolated from the nation’s rich major centers.

“We have a law and judicial system that protects police officers and it creates a culture of impunity in France,” Yassine Bouzrou, Nahel’s attorney, said on the BBC World Service’s Newshour program.

But Nahel’s mother insisted that she only held the officer responsible for firing the fatal shot that killed her son, not the police force as a whole or the system.

The policeman who is accused of shooting the man claimed that he opened fire because he thought his life was in danger. According to his attorney, his client shot his gun “in full compliance with the law,” according to French radio station RTL.