West News Wire: The brutal killing of a 17-year-old French-Algerian by French police has sparked outrage and been denounced by well-known figures including Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain and actor Omar Sy.
On Tuesday morning, Nael M., the driver, was stopped by police for traffic infractions while he was on the road in the Nanterre neighborhood of Paris.
Online video depicts the cop killing the boy while he was inside the automobile at close range, causing the car to crash into a post.
Nael M succumbed to gunshot wounds to his chest shortly after receiving help from emergency personnel.
Police initially said that one officer shot at the teenager because he was driving his car at him, but the footage appears to show the two policemen standing by the side of a stationary c
You can hear a voice shouting “You are going to get a bullet in the head” as one police officer raises a weapon at the driver.
Online people vented their fury over the shooting of the young person using a number of hashtags, such as #JusticeForNael.
Mornia Labssi, a local citizen and anti-racism activist, claimed that the victim’s family was of Algerian heritage. “As a mother from Nanterre, I have a feeling of insecurity for our children,” she added.
If he weren’t Muslim, they would never have dismissed him, a Twitter user claimed.
Some users hypothesised that the murder was the consequence of racial hostility on the part of the police, with one writing: “Film the police. Always. Everywhere. Particularly when they approach black or Arab people in #Nanterre.
The football player Mbappe called the event “unacceptable” and said that his sympathies were with Nal’s family and loved ones because “this little angel left far too soon.”
Omar Sy, who plays Omar in Lupin, also sent his “thoughts and prayers” to Nael M’s family. He wished for “justice worthy of the name to honour the memory of this child.”
People protested in Nanterre, France, on Tuesday night as rage poured spilled into the streets. After burning automobiles, bus stops, and trash cans, approximately 31 demonstrators were detained. A town hall was firebombed, and people also let off fireworks in the vicinity of the local police stations.
Tear gas and barricades were deployed by riot police to disperse the demonstrators.
The towns of Asnieres, Colombes, Suresnes, Aubervilliers, Clichy-sous-Bois and Mantes-la-Jolie joined in to protest the shooting.
Two other people had also been in the vehicle at the time of the incident. One fled the scene while the other a minor was arrested and held by police.
The 38-year-old police officer accused of shooting Nael M has since been detained on homicide charges.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told the French channel BFMTV that the policeman’s action “raises questions”, suggesting, however, that he may have felt threatened.
Nael M’s family lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou, said that the video “clearly showed a policeman killing a young man in cold blood”, adding that the family had filed a complaint against the officers for “lying”, after claims that the car had attempted to ram into the officers
Another of the 17-year-old’s family lawyers, Jennifer Cambla, described the death as an “execution”.
The teenager is the second killing this year to have been caused by the police over traffic violations.
In early June, a 19-year-old driver was shot dead in the French town of Angouleme. In 2022, 13 people were killed in a similar way.
