Violence became widespread overnight after a police shooting killed a teenager in Paris on Tuesday. Clash between protestors and police led to increasing crisis on Thursday. The violence spread across France.
The 17 year old teenager belonged to African descent and identified as Nahel. The incident took place in Nanterre situated on the western outskirts of Paris.
On the second night of protest, police arrested 150 people, informed Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. He also said that angry public came out on the streets across the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron tried to contain the crisis by presiding a meeting which included senior ministers over the issue which exposed public complaints about violence by police and their systematic racism and complaints from rights groups and from people with low economic background and from mixed race areas.
On Wednesday, Macron condemned the shooting incident saying that it was unforgivable. His statement came during the crisis meeting he called while condemning the clash as well. While opening the meeting, he said,”The last few hours have been marked by scenes of violence against police stations but also schools and town halls, and thus institutions of the Republic and these scenes are wholly unjustifiable.”
The regional attorney said that lawyers who were investigating had taken the concerned officer for formal investigation for voluntary homicide. Pascal Prache, the attorney in a news conference said, “On the basis of the evidence gathered, the public prosecutor considers that the legal conditions for using the weapon have not been met.”
According to the legal rules in France, someone who is brought under investigation is as much charged in Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions.
Nahel was underage to possess a license in France, that means he was driving illegally, said a source. According to the Nanterre lawyer, the teenager was infamous with police for earlier faulting on police traffic order when asked to stop his vehicle.
Lawyers say that Nahel did not comply police orders on Tuesday.
The violence
Last night, 2,000 police officers were spread about the Paris region. As protestors fired fireworks at police lines in Nanterre, a line of overturned automobiles caught fire.
The authorities reported that there was turbulence in Amiens, Dijon, as well as numerous neighbourhoods throughout the greater Paris region, and that police and protestors also engaged in physical altercations in the northern city of Lille and in Toulouse in the southwest.
The turmoil has brought back memories of the riots in 2005, which shook France for three weeks and prompted Jacques Chirac, the president at the time, to proclaim a state of emergency.
