A peaceful march in honor of the 17-year-old killed Tuesday by police in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, began this Thursday afternoon as his mother led a demonstration and called for justice.
The “White March”, called by the mother of a young man shot in the chest by police, began early in the day with thousands of participants gathered around the slogan “Justice for Nahel”. , to the cries of “Never.”
The same slogan “Justice for Nahel” is also inscribed on a “t-shirt” worn by the young man’s mother who allegedly failed to follow traffic rules on Tuesday, caught on surveillance cameras and whose death triggered two episodes in a row. urban violence in France.
The march, surrounded by strict security measures, passed peacefully, although tensions arose at the end of the route, near the prefecture of the Hauts de Seine department, located in the Ile de Seine district. France and of which Nanterre is the capital), the police used tear gas grenades, dispersing the demonstrators.
In the morning, Nanterre public prosecutor Pascal Prache announced that the police officer, a 38-year-old motorcyclist, would be presented to two investigating judges later that day for arraignment.
“The Prosecutor General believes that the legal conditions for the use of weapons are not met,” he said.
The Attorney General of the Republic requested the preventive detention of a police officer, which is rare in such cases.
“We regret that the prosecutor covered up the possible involvement of the second police officer in the premeditated murder and the possible falsification of official documents as a result of the false initial testimony of the shooter, who officially stated that the young Nahel tried to run him down. with a car,” Yassin Bouzru, the family’s lawyer, said in a statement.
According to video footage verified by the France-Presse (AFP) news agency, one of the two policemen pointed a gun at Nahel and fired at close range.
The case has re-ignited controversy over police action in France, which recorded a record 13 deaths in 2022 as a result of refusing to obey orders, and sparked long-standing tensions between youth and police in slums and other troubled areas in France.
This Thursday, the French right called for a state of emergency, and Republican President Eric Ciotti demanded that the November 2005 emergency measures be introduced “without delay.”
“We can mobilize a huge amount of resources […] without having to resort to specific articles of the Constitution,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin responded by announcing a greater mobilization of security forces for Thursday evening: 40,000 police and gendarmes mobilized, including 5,000 in Paris (compared to 2,000 last night )
“We’re going to do everything we can to get order back,” Darmanin said, pointing out that the mobilization of security forces planned for this Thursday is four times the force deployed last night, whose disturbances resulted in minor injuries to about 170 people. police officers.
The first clashes with police erupted Tuesday evening on the outskirts of Nanterre in Paris, where Nakhel was killed, and on Wednesday the government sent 2,000 police to maintain order, but violence resumed after dusk.
French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed “scenes of violence” against “the institutions of the Republic” this Thursday as unjustified, citing yesterday’s nightly riots.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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