French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday described the shooting dead of a 17-year-old by police during a traffic stop near Paris as “inexcusable”, in rare criticism of law-enforcement hours after the incident triggered riots.
A police officer is being investigated for voluntary homicide for shooting the youth, who prosecutors say failed to comply with an order to stop his car early on Monday.
The interior ministry called for calm after at least 31 were arrested in overnight riots, mainly in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where the victim lived, with youths burning cars and shooting fireworks at police, who sprayed people with tear gas.
“We have an adolescent that was killed, it is unexplainable and inexcusable,” Macron told reporters in Marseille.
“Nothing justifies the death of a young man,” he said, before calling for the judiciary to do its work.
A video shared on social media, verified by Reuters, shows two police officers beside the car, a Mercedes AMG, with one shooting at the driver as the car pulled away. He subsequently died from his wounds, the local prosecutor said.
Paris Saint-Germain footballer Kylian Mpabbe in a Tweet about the shooting said: “I’m hurting for my France.”
The victim came from an Algerian family and his first name was Nahel, a neighbour and acquaintance of the family said.
In a video shared on TikTok, a woman identified as the victim’s mother called for a memorial march in Nanterre on Thursday. “Everyone come, we will do a revolt for my son,” she said.
Tuesday’s killing was just the second fatal shooting during traffic stops in France so far in 2023 down from a record 13 last year, according to a Reuters tally based on police and prosecutor reports and documents from lawyers.
There were three such killings in 2021 and two in 2020, according to the tally, which shows the majority of victims were Black or of Arab origin. The Ministry of Interior and police did not immediately respond to requests to confirm the tally.
France’s human rights ombudsman has opened an inquiry into the death, the sixth such inquiry into similar incidents in 2022 and 2023.
UNUSUALLY FRANK
Macron’s remarks were unusually frank in a country where senior politicians are often reticent to criticise police given voters’ security concerns.
He has faced criticism from rivals who accuse him of being soft on drug dealers and petty criminals and has implemented policies aimed at curbing urban crime, including greater authority for police to issue fines.
Rights groups allege systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies in France. Macron has previously denied this.
In the wake of the overnight unrest, the interior ministry said 2,000 police have been mobilised in the Paris region.
The streets of Nanterre were calm on Wednesday morning and Fatima, a resident, said she hoped there would be no more violence.
“To revolt like we did yesterday won’t change things, we need to discuss and talk,” she said.