PARIS – People in France have been protesting and rioting en masse this week following the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old male. Arrests have mounted during the episodes of civil unrest. Now reports suggest that nearly 900 people have been taken into custody as of Friday morning, Complex news reported.
According to the Associated Press, the shooting occurred Tuesday in Nanterre, which is a suburb of Paris. The teen, identified in a statement from the family’s legal team as Nahel M., was shot and killed during a traffic-related detention in the area. Although local authorities initially said the officer fired on the teen due to concerns about safety, the family’s lawyers disputed this explanation by pointing to video footage they argue shows the opposite.
In the video circulating online, two police officers are at the driver-side window of a yellow car before the vehicle pulls away and one officer fires, striking the driver. The car is later seen in the footage crashed nearby.
The officer who reportedly shot and killed the teen is currently facing a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide, the Associated Press reported.
Deadly use of firearms is less common in France than in the U.S., and Tuesday’s death drew not just national attention in the country, but international observation.
One Twitter user aptly noted, “And @SkyNews has called this ‘protests’, rather like the media description of blm riots in The U.S. The clown show that is the media.”
Meanwhile, France’s Interior Ministry said 40,000 police officers and military officials have been “mobilized to fight against public order disturbances,” according to a statement issued Friday.
As of Friday morning, law enforcement authorities confirmed 875 arrests have been made for a variety of crimes related to the ongoing riots.
