Violent Protests In Paris After Teenager Shot Dead For Traffic Violation

International

oi-Sanjeev Nayak

With looting, fires and firing of fireworks, Paris and its suburbs were plagued by a new wave of violence after a teenager was shot dead in a fatal police shooting in Nanterre. Angry protesters also set afire at least 13 buses from the RATP depot in Aubervilliers on Thursday.

According to a report, 17-year-old Nahel was killed by the police after being stopped for a traffic violation in the Paris suburb town of Nanterre on Tuesday. The officer who is accused of shooting him has been taken to jail, local BFM TV reported from Seine-Saint-Denis.

Till now, at least 421 people have been arrested across France in protests, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told CNN-affiliate BFM TV, which is a 24-hour rolling news and weather channel based in France and available globally via digital, cable and satellite television.

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Of those, 242 arrests took place in the Paris region in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, BFM TV said citing Paris police.

Earlier, the lawyer of the police officer under formal investigation for the fatal shooting of a French teenager slammed the treatment of his client as “political”, claiming his prosecution was being used to try and calm the violent tensions.

“He committed an act in a second, in a fraction of a second. Perhaps he made a mistake, justice will tell,” Laurent-Franck Lienard, the officer’s lawyer told BFM TV in an interview. The officer is “devastated” by the death of the teenager, the lawyer said, adding that he didn’t want to kill him.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said, “Violence against police stations, schools, town halls, against the Republic, is unjustifiable. Thank you to the police, gendarmes, firefighters and elected officials mobilized. Meditation, Justice and calm must guide the next few hours.”

Macron also convened a crisis meeting with senior ministers in the wake of the situation, CNN reported. Speaking at the meeting, he said: “Clearly, the emotion that comes with the death of a young man calls for contemplation and calm, and it’s what the government has constantly called for. I think this is what should continue to guide the next hours and the tributes.”

Calling the violence “absolutely unjustifiable”, the French President thanked those who are working to bring back calm. “The last hours have been marked by violent scenes against police stations but also schools and town halls, and basically against institutions and the Republic. It’s absolutely unjustifiable,” Macron said.

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“I would like to thank those who are out during the night, like yesterday, to protect these institutions and bring back calm,” he added.

In another statement, Macron defended the ‘right to protest’ and urged people to maintain calm. “We have always safeguarded the right to protest… but we need harmony and we need a lot of collective goodwill,” President Emmanuel Macron told the newspaper Ouest France, while urging calm, reported France24.