French Riots sparked by Police Violence

Riots engulfed France following the killing of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old shot by the French Police

A 17-year-old student’s murder by a policeman during a traffic check in a town close to Paris has sparked violent protests in France.

Nahel Merzouk, a French citizen of Algerian was shot and subsequently died after two police officers arrested him for driving illegally in a Paris suburb called Nanterre.

While a lawyer representing Merzouk’s family argued that he had no criminal record, the top prosecutor in Nanterre Pascal Prache said that the teen was known to the local police for not complying with traffic stops, which had previously led him to be summoned to juvenile court in September. Prache told reporters that a search of Merzouk’s yellow Mercedes car did not find any “dangerous” material or illegal drugs.

France saw multiple consecutive nights of violence and unrest. “Police violence happens every day, especially if you’re Arab or black,” said one young man in another French city calling for justice for Nahel, in words that are reminiscent of recent protests sparked by police violence, notably the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd in the US in 2020. France has seen similar divides between law-and-order and deprived communities across the country that are increasingly alienated and have a deep-seated mistrust of the police.

President Macron called for calm over the riots that have subsumed France after Merzouk’s death. He condemned the killing– characterising it as “inexplicable and inexcusable … Nothing justifies the death of a young person”.

However, some French officials have organised peaceful gatherings across the country to protest the cases of violent attacks on elected officials that occurred in the aftermath of Merzouk’s death.