France is bracing for what could be a third night of violent protests following the fatal police shooting of a teenage boy that was captured on video.
The French Interior Ministry said it plans to deploy 40,000 police officers across the country Thursday – including 5,000 in Paris – to quell any potential unrest.
Authorities are keen to avoid a repeat of the scenes that played out Wednesday night, when police stations, town halls and schools were set alight in various cities and about 150 people were arrested.
The unrest first broke out Tuesday, hours after a police traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre resulted in the killing of a 17-year-old named Nahel. Over the course of a chaotic night, 40 cars were burned and 24 police officers injured, French authorities claimed. The police officer was charged with voluntary homicide and placed in custody, CNN affiliate BFMTV reported Thursday.
On Thursday, an estimated 6,000 people, according BFMTV, joined a march to honor Nahel led by his mother in Nanterre. The event was mostly peaceful, though there was some violence on the edges of the procession.
Many wore shirts emblazoned with “justice for Nahel,” while others shouted the slogan. Some were seen holding signs saying “the police kill.” A lawyer for the family on Thursday confirmed the spelling of the boy’s name as Nahel; he was initially identified as Naël.
All government ministers have been asked to postpone non-urgent travel and remain in Paris due to the protests, a government source told CNN on Thursday. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity citing French professional norms.
The violent scenes seen over the past two days have raised concerns that Nahel’s death could lead to a level of unrest and rioting not seen since 2005, when the deaths of two teenage boys hiding from police sparked three weeks of rioting and prompted the government to call a state of emergency.
The video of Nahel’s killing has sparked a similar level of shock and anger across France, touching a particular nerve among young men and women of color who feel that they have been discriminated against by police. A 2017 study by the Rights Defenders, an independent human rights watchdog in France, found that young men perceived to be Black or Arab were 20 times more likely to be stopped by police than their peers.
Many of these individuals are simply “tired,” journalist and racial equality activist Rokhaya Diallo told CNN.
“People know and have been speaking about police brutality and have not been heard,” she said.
Video of the shooting in the Paris suburb of Nanterre surfaced on social media shortly after the incident took place Tuesday morning. The clip shows two police officers standing on the driver’s side of a yellow Mercedes AMG, one near the door and another near the left front fender. As the car attempts to drive away, one officer is seen firing his sidearm.
The bullet that hit Nahel pierced his arm and chest. After fleeing the scene, the car crashed into a stationary object at a nearby plaza. The 17-year-old victim was later pronounced dead and the officer who allegedly shot him was placed in custody. The teen was in the car with two others at the time of the incident. One passenger in the vehicle was taken into custody and later released, while another, who is believed to have fled the scene, is missing, authorities said.
The local Nanterre prosecutor, Pascal Prache, said Thursday that the officers testified both drew their weapons and pointed them at the driver to dissuade him from restarting the engine. The officer who fired his weapon said, according to the prosecutor, that he was scared the boy would run someone over with the car. However, Prache said it is believed the officer accused of shooting and killing Nahel may have acted illegally in doing so.
Lawyers for Nahel’s family slammed the decision not to pursue charges over alleged false statements, claiming the officer said in his initial declaration that “young Nahel had tried to run him over with the vehicle.” CNN has asked the French national police for a response to the allegations against the unnamed officer.
Prache said that Nahel had been known to authorities for a previous “breach of rules,” but it is not clear what law or orders that pertains to. The teen was expected to appear before a juvenile court in September.
Macron and other government officials, including Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, have called for patience to allow the criminal justice system to run its course.
“We need calm for justice to carry out its work,” Macron said Wednesday. “We can’t allow the situation to worsen.”
Rallying public support and goodwill, however, is likely to be difficult for Macron’s government given how much political capital it spent in the first half of 2023 pushing through unpopular pension reforms, which sparked months of mostly peaceful mass protests.
Acknowledging the government’s massive unpopularity, Macron gave himself 100 days to heal and unite the country. That deadline is up on July 14, France’s national day.
Addressing allegations of institutional racism in France is particularly challenging given the country’s unique brand of secularism, which seeks to ensure equality for all by removing markers of difference, rendering all citizens French first. In practice, however, the vigorous adherence to French Republicanism often prevents the government from doing anything that would appear to differentiate French citizens on the basis of race, including collecting statistics.
Racial and religious data, where available, typically comes from private institutions, and extra care is typically taken by politicians to avoid circumscribing racial motives to state institutions.
“On a general level, people tend to think there is no racism in France. And it’s one of the reasons people are so angry, because they feel and experience racism on a daily basis,” said Diallo, the anti-racism activist. “Despite that, they still face institutions, public discourse, and media which still say that there is no racism and that the race debate does not belong in France. And that’s the reason people are so angry and so outraged.”
Government officials have so far not broached questions of racism in the police. Leaders of opposition left-wing parties have focused their criticisms on police violence rather than racism. Government spokesman Olivier Veran told BFMTV that anger against the state itself, however, is unjustified.
“It is not the republic that killed this young man,” Veran said. “It is one man who must be judged if the justice system deems it necessary.”