The French government announced on June 29 that 40,000 police officers will be deployed across the country after rioters caused severe damage to public property amid widespread outrage over the deadly police shooting of a teenage boy.
The unrest in the country comes after 17-year-old Nahel M. was shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop in Nanterre, just outside Paris, on Tuesday. The deadly encounter was captured on video.
After a crisis meeting early on Thursday, France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that the “professionals of disorder should go home.” He confirmed that policing will be more than quadrupled—from 9,000 officers to 40,000. In Paris alone, the number of officers deployed will be more than doubled.
“Yesterday, there were 9,000 police officers and gendarmes mobilized, including 2,000 in the Paris region,” he said. “I have decided to mobilize 40,000 police officers and gendarmes this evening and this night, including 5,000 officers in the Paris region, as well as significant technical and technological resources to combat these riots, to make arrests, and, above all, to restore the republican order that the French people legitimately expect.”
Darmanin announced the development while speaking from the suburbs of the northern French city of Lille, where the town hall was set on fire during Wednesday night’s riot. For the second night in a row, rioters have burned cars and set fire to public buildings. In total, at least 90 public buildings across the country have been vandalized.
“I want to reiterate that the riots we experienced last night had nothing to do with this story … and that attacking a school, setting fire to a social center, burning down a town hall had nothing to do with these stories from Nanterre,” he said.
Darmanin noted that police officers and gendarmes responding to the violence “paid a heavy price.” At least 170 officers were injured overnight, he said. The number of civilian injuries was not immediately released.
“Fortunately, none of them have a life-threatening prognosis,” he said. “There was also a response from the government, with more than 180 people arrested, and no doubt there will be more today.”
French authorities now brace themselves for what could potentially be a third night of unrest, but the government has confirmed that it won’t declare a state of emergency yet—a measure that was taken to quell weeks of rioting in 2005 when the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traoré and 17-year-old Zyed Benna led to three weeks of nationwide riots.
“It goes without saying that those who set fire to schools and town halls will be found, arrested, and brought to justice,” Darmanin said. “In any case, I want to tell you that the government’s response will be extremely firm, and, from this evening, everyone must understand that public order will be restored.”
What Happened?
The police officer who fired the fatal shot in the Paris suburb of Nanterre will be investigated for voluntary homicide after an initial investigation led local prosecutor Pascal Prache to conclude that “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.”
The killing of Nahel, who has been identified only by his first name, came during a traffic stop on June 27. The incident, which was captured on video, drew outrage across the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the shooting during Thursday’s crisis meeting, saying it’s “totally unjustifiable.” The meeting was held as officials plan to secure hot spots for the coming days “so full peace can return.”
Macron also said that it was time for “remembrance and respect” as Nahel’s mother called for a silent march Thursday. The march drew hundreds of participants to the square where the teen was killed.
“We demand that the judiciary does its job, otherwise we’ll do it our way,” a neighbor of Nahel’s family told Reuters at the march.
This week’s deadly officer-involved encounter was the third such incident during a traffic stop in France so far this year, down from a record 13 last year, a spokesperson for the national police said.
Criminal History
Prache, meanwhile, offered an insight into the investigation so far during a news conference on Thursday, saying the officers involved tried to stop Nahel during a traffic stop because he looked too young to hold a full license in France—which requires a minimum age of 18. According to the prosecutor, the teen was caught driving a Mercedes with Polish license plates in a bus lane and also ran a red light.
“During the incident, several elements, including the statements of the police officers and CCTV images, allowed us to observe several traffic law infractions [concerning Nahel], especially driving through pedestrian crossings and putting in danger a pedestrian and a person on a bike,” Prache said.
Ultimately, Nahel was forced to stop due to a traffic jam at a stoplight, which prompted the officers to draw their guns to prevent him from fleeing. The officer who allegedly killed the teen by firing a single shot stated that he “shouted for the driver to stop” while they positioned themselves around the vehicle.
The officers stated that they “both took out their weapons and pointed at the driver to discourage him from restarting the car and asked him to shut down the vehicle,” Prache said, but Nahel restarted his car again and then one of the officers “fired once.”
Nahel, who is of North African descent, was known by authorities for refusing to comply during prior traffic stops. Most recently, he was brought to the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office and was expected to appear before a juvenile court in September, Prache said, without specifying details.
The officer who killed the boy said he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car when he tried to drive off again, the prosecutor said.
Prache has requested for the officer to be held in custody—a decision to be made by a magistrate. Two magistrates have been named to lead the investigation, the prosecutor added. Under the French legal system—which differs from the U.S. system—magistrates often lead investigations.
Videos of the shooting shared online show two police officers leaning into the driver-side window of a yellow car before the vehicle pulls away as one officer fires into the window. The videos show the car later crashed into a post nearby.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
