French President says social media causing copycat violence, amid riots over teen’s killing

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Key Points
  • On Tuesday, French police fatally shot 17-year-old Nahel during a traffic stop after the teen ran a red light.
  • The police officer was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after the deadly shooting.
  • Thousands have marched and rioted all over France in response to the shooting, leading to clashes with police.
France on Friday deployed 45,000 officers backed by light armoured vehicles to tackle a fourth straight night of violent protests after the fatal police shooting of a teenager.
Crack police units and other security forces fanned out across the country to quell violence and rioting over the shooting, which took place during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, after rushing back from an EU summit to chair a crisis meeting, denounced the “unacceptable exploitation of a death of an adolescent” in some quarters.

A person in all black running past fire and smouldering cars.

A demonstrator runs on the third night of protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, France. Source: AAP / Aurelien Morissard/AP

He said social media is fuelling copycat violence, as well as becoming a place to organise it, and state agencies would ask platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok to remove the most “sensitive content”.

“We sometimes have the feeling that some of (the young people) are living in the streets of the video games that have intoxicated them.”

He also urged parents to take responsibility for underage rioters, one-third of whom were “young or very young”.

Why are people in France rioting

The unrest was sparked by the killing of 17-year-old Nahel, which revived longstanding grievances about policing and racial profiling in France’s low-income and multi-ethnic suburbs.

France has been rocked by successive nights of protests since Nahel was shot at point-blank range during a traffic stop captured on video.

A very large crowd of people.

Crowds of protesters march to demand justice for Nahel. Credit: SOPA Images/Sipa USA

A video, authenticated by AFP, showed two police officers standing by the side of the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver.

A voice is heard saying: “You are going to get a bullet in the head.”
The police officer then appears to fire as the car abruptly drives off. The officer has been charged with voluntary homicide and remanded in custody.
In her first media interview since the shooting, Nahel’s mother, Mounia, told France 5 television: “I don’t blame the police, I blame one person: the one who took the life of my son.”
The mother of a 17 year old victim of a police shooting looking overcome with emotion at a protest for her son.

Nahel’s mother raises her fist as she attends a march in the memory of her 17-year-old son who was killed by French Police. Source: AAP, EPA / Yoan Valat

She said the 38-year-old officer responsible, who was detained and charged with voluntary manslaughter on Thursday, “saw an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life”.

He is due to be buried in a ceremony on Saturday, according to the mayor of Nanterre — the Paris suburb where he lived and was killed.
Macron has attempted to strike a balance between pressure for a harsh response and fears of triggering a stronger backlash.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told TF1 television that crack units from both the police and the paramilitary gendarme force were among the 45,000 officers deployed Friday.

This compares with 40,000 the night before, when the police force failed to prevent 492 structures being damaged, 2,000 vehicles being burned and 3,880 fires started nationwide, according to government figures.
“These next few hours will be decisive,” Darmanin wrote in a note to the emergency services.

“The human and material reinforcements that we are currently sending will give you (…) the means to defend the Republic and its values,” he added.

A firework explodes on a number of police officers amidst a protest.

Protesters lob fireworks at police officers during a second night of rioting in Nanterre following the death of a 17-year-old at a roadside check. Source: AAP, ABACA, Press Association / Poitout Florian/Alamy

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne also announced the cancellations of large-scale events — such as concerts — across the country.

Buses and trams, targeted in some of the previous nights’ violence, stopped running at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) and the sale of large fireworks and inflammable liquids has been banned.
The government is desperate to avoid a repeat of 2005’s weeks-long urban riots, sparked by the death of two boys of African origin in a police chase, during which 6,000 people were arrested.
The UN rights office said Friday that the killing of the teen of North African descent was “a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement”
A foreign ministry statement dismissed that charge as “totally unfounded”.
On Thursday, two major police unions said they were “at war” with rioters, who they likened to “vermin”.

Prosecutors in Marseille opened an investigation into attempted murder after two police officers in civilian clothes were attacked by a gang of 20 people in the southern city overnight.

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