The death of a young man by police in the French city of Nanterre during an attempt to escape has led to a series of disturbances in recent hours on the outskirts of Paris, leading security forces to detain 24 people.
The head of the Paris police, Laurent Núñez, explained today to the CNews channel that the protesters set fire to 42 vehicles, in addition to machines used in construction, and insisted that the 350 police officers deployed overnight prevented thefts in stores and other buildings.
“The device will last as long as necessary,” Núñez said of maintaining the police apparatus in the coming days, adding that 24 members of the security forces were injured in the clashes.
The same source added that these disturbances were already expected, after the incident on Tuesday morning, in Nanterre, alluding to the death of Naël, a young man with an alleged criminal record who was driving without documents and who, after being stopped by the police , tried to flee with the vehicle and ended up being shot dead.
A video of the events recorded by a witness shows how one of the agents, a 38-year-old brigadier, pointed the gun directly at the young man next to the driver’s window while the other was talking to him from the same side. Both agents were arrested.
Justice opened two investigations, one of them for voluntary manslaughter. The second because of the victim’s escape. This decision has provoked the indignation of the young man’s family who, according to his lawyer, “in France you cannot judge a dead person”.
Speaking to France Info station, Cambla indicated that the family intends to file a complaint for forgery, considering that the agents involved in the incident lied in their first statement.
He insisted that the police’s reaction was “absolutely illegitimate” and that it “does not fall within the framework of self-defence” because “feeling threatened is not enough to shoot a bullet in the chest”.
This incident generated a political reaction, especially from some left-wing leaders, who denounced the large number of deaths at the hands of police elements, who rely on self-defence, especially when the driver flees a checkpoint.
France national team star Kylian Mbappé also reacted, writing in a message on his Twitter account: “France hurts me. An unacceptable situation. I am with the family and relatives of Naël, this little angel who left too soon”.
