150 arrested in France as cars, buildings set ablaze in multiple towns after 17-year-old killed by police
Protesters angry after set cars and public buildings ablaze in Paris suburbs and unrest spread to some other French cities and towns, despite increased security efforts and the pr𒈔esident’s calls for calm.
The killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. during a traffic check Tuesday, captured on video, shocked the country and stirred ▨up long-simmering tensions between young people and po🐽lice in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighborhoods around France.
Nahel’s surname has not been released by authorities or by his family.
Clashes first erupted Tuesday night in and around the Pℱaris suburb of Nanterre, where Nahel was killed, and the government deployed 2,000 police to maintain order Wednesday. But violence resumed after dusk.
Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes through the night that damage💜d schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings, according to a spokesperson for the national police.
The national police on Thur♏sday reported fires or skirmishes in multiple cities overnight, from Toulouse in the south to Lille in the north, though the nexus of tensions was Nanterre and other Paris suburbs.
Police arrested 150 people ar𝔉ound the country, mo♏re than half of them in the Paris region, the spokesperson said.
She was not authorized to be pu𓂃blicly named according t𝐆o police rules.
The number🌱 of injured was not immediately 💎released.
French ꦇPresident Emmanuel Macron held an emergency secuღrity meeting Thursday about the violence.
Multiple vehicles were set ablaze in Nanterre and protesters shot fireworks and thr𒉰ew stones at police, who𝄹 fired repeated volleys of tear gas.
Flam🐼es shot out of three stories of a building, and a blaze was reported at an electrical plant.
Fire damaged the town hall of the Paris subur𒁏b of L’Ile-Saint-Denis, not far from France’s national stadium and the headquarters of the .
The police officer accused of the killing is in custody on suspicion of manslaughter and could face preliminary charges as soon as Thursday, according to the Nan🔯terre prosecutor’s office.
Nael’s mother♋ called foꦫr a silent march Thursday in his honor on the square where he was killed.
French activists renewed calls to tackle what they see as systemic police abuse, particularly in neighborhoods like the one where Nael ꦫlived, where many residents struggle with poverty and racial or class discrimination.
Government officials condemned the killi🔴ng and sought🍸 to distance themselves from the police officer’s actions.
Macron called the killing “inexplicable and inexcusable” and ca🐷lled for calm. “Nothing justifies the death of a ꧒young person,” he told reporters in Marseille on Wednesday.
Videos of the shooting shared online show two police o🅰fficers leaning into the driver-side window of a yellow car ℱbefore the vehicle pulls away as one officer fires into the window.
The videos 𝔉show the car later crashed into a post nearby.
The driver died at the scene, the pr🐲osecutor’s office said.
Bouquets of orange and yellow roses now mark the site of the shooting, on Nanterre’s Nelson Mandela Sq🧸uare.
Speaking to Parliament, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said, “the shocking images broadcast yesterday show an intervention that appears clearly not to comp♛ly with the rules of engagement of our police forces.”
Deadly use of firearms is less ꧟common in France than in the United States, though several people ha🎐ve died or sustained injuries at the hands of French police in recent years, prompting demands for more accountability.
France also saw protests against racial profiling and𝕴 ot♋her injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota.
Asked about police abuses, Macron said ju🐲stice sho🍸uld be allowed to run its course.
A lawyer for Nahel’s family, Yassine Bouzrou, told The Associated Press they want the police officer prosecuted for murder instead of manslaughter.
French soccer star Kylian Mbappe, who grew up in the&✅nbsp;Paris suburbꦜ of Bondy, was among many shocked by what happened.
“I hurt for my France,” he tweeted.
