Violent incidents continued overnight Wednesday into Thursday in France, above all in the suburbs of Paris, where Nael, 17, was shot dead by a police officer for “refusing to obey”.

The tension rose around 11:00 p.m [τοπική ώρα· τα μεσάνυχτα ώρα Ελλάδας] in the Nanterre suburb, about fifteen kilometers west of the center of Paris, where the teenager was killed the day before yesterday Tuesday morning.

Over ten police vehicles and garbage cans were set on fire; roadblocks were set up.

The phrases ‘Justice for Nael’ and ‘Police kill’ were spray-painted on the front of a property.

Clashes between protesters and police officers were ongoing at around 01:00 [02:00 ώρα Ελλάδας] in the district, which already became a theater of incidents the day before. The two sides exchanged tear gas, stones, pieces of slabs from sidewalks.

About two dozen communities in the Saint-Saint-Denis arrondissement, a department in the northeastern sector of the Paris metropolitan area, recorded incidents, according to an AFP police source.

Police reported 77 arrests as of 02:00 [03:00 ώρα Ελλάδας].

In Esson, south of the capital, a group of protesters set fire to an empty bus at 9:00 p.m. [22:00]according to AFP’s police source.

Episodes also broke out in the Toulouse sector (southwest). Columns of thick black smoke were rising from the area, mainly because a truck was on fire, a journalist of the agency found.

Tensions were reported in all four corners of the country, especially in Lyon (east), where law enforcement forces were targeted by fireworks.

In some cases, notably in Saint-Etienne (east), Lille (north) and Rennes (north-west), the incidents broke out on the sidelines of rallies in support of an environmental movement recently dismantled by Emmanuel Macron’s government.

“Shocking images”

Nael’s death caused a huge emotional outburst in France, with reactions from the president of the Republic Macron to the captain of the French national football team Kylian Mbappe and the actor Omar Sy.

MPs and members of the French government observed a minute’s silence in the French National Assembly early yesterday afternoon to pay tribute to the teenager.

Initially, sources close to the French police reported that a car crashed into two of its motorcyclists and one shot.

But video later circulated on social media sites – which AFP and other media outlets have verified as authentic – shows one of the two officers pointing a gun at the driver, then shooting him at close range when he tries to speed away. . In the video, the phrase “you will eat a bullet in the head” can be heard, without it being clear who is saying it. The vehicle stops a few tens of meters further, on a pole. The victim, Nael, 17, succumbed to his chest injuries.

These “shocking images” show a police “intervention that clearly does not comply with the rules of engagement of law enforcement forces”, said Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne, while President Macron condemned the “inexplicable” and “unforgivable” act of the police officer.

The biggest police union has criticized the statements by top government officials, insisting on the “presumption of innocence”.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanen announced the mobilization in the evening of 2,000 police officers in and around Paris, 800 more than the previous day.

“I hurt for my France”

Nael’s mother has called for a demonstration at 14:00 (15:00 Greek time) in front of the headquarters of the Hautes-de-Seine prefecture, where Nanterre is administratively located.

The tragedy has reignited intense public debate about how law enforcement operates in France: in 2022, thirteen deaths were recorded during police checks on streets after “refusal to comply”, an unprecedented number in the country.

“I ache for my France. Unacceptable situation,” Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain vendetta and captain of the French national football team, said via Twitter.

“[Εύχομαι] a justice worthy of the name to honor the memory of this child,” French actor Omar Sy commented on Twitter.

The police officer accused of firing the fatal bullet, 38, is being questioned by the French police’s internal affairs service (IGPN) as part of a manslaughter investigation. His pre-trial detention was decided to be extended, the prosecutor’s office of Nanterre informed yesterday.

The tragedy sparked reactions from the political world.

Representatives of the National Alarm (Rassemblement National, RN, extreme right) spoke of a “tragedy”, however they asked that “the investigation” and the “presumption of innocence” be respected.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the leader of the radical left party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said “Enough!”, saying that the police “discredit” the power of the state and must be “fundamentally reformed” and “the murderers punished”. . “The death penalty no longer exists in France. No policeman has the right to kill, unless he is in legitimate defense,” added the head of the La France Insoumise (LFI) party.