Global Courant
PARIS
The mother of a 17-year-old delivery driver who was shot and killed by a police officer during traffic control in a Paris suburb earlier this week said she believes her son’s death on Thursday was racially motivated.
Nahel M.’s mother, Mounia, said in an interview broadcast on France 5 TV that the police officer “sees the face of a little Arab boy” and “wants to take his life”.
He said he only wanted to blame the police officer who killed his son, not all law enforcement.
“I don’t blame the police. I blame one person: the person who killed my son,” he said.
According to prosecutors, Nahel was shot dead by police on Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre for failing to break traffic laws.
Prosecutors said Thursday that the officer who killed Nahel was charged with willful manslaughter and was arrested.
Police attorney Laurent-Franck Lienard told BFMTV that his client was “devastated” and “asked for forgiveness from his family”.
“He doesn’t get up in the morning to kill people. He didn’t want to kill,” he added.
Thursday evening was marked by tensions and clashes in the Ile-de-France, as well as in Marseille, Lille and several other cities in France. The Interior Ministry said on Twitter that 100 people were arrested during the protests.
According to video footage circulating on social media, protesters tried to burn down the town hall in Clichy, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris.
Located 9.1 kilometers (5.6 miles) from central Paris, the mayor of the municipality said a curfew was in place in Meudon between 10 pm and 6 am.
Jean-Didier Berger, mayor of the commune of Clamart, 8.7 kilometers (5.4 miles) from the center of Paris, also decided to impose a curfew from 21:00 to 06:00 until Monday.
Valerie Pecresse, president of the Île-de-France regional council, announced the suspension of bus and tram services in and around Paris after 9pm on Thursday to protect employees and passengers.
Paris police have been authorized to use drones in the city from Thursday evening to Friday morning at 06:00, as well as in parts of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne.
In Marseille, a police officer was injured and hospitalized, and five people were arrested in the city, according to a police source.
In Lile, the police arrested six people. Protesters set fire to a van and trash cans in Toulouse.
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