Frozen neighborhood, this Sunday, on the outskirts of the prefecture of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) where, since 9 a.m., the reconstruction of the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by the shooting of a police officer, the June 27, 2023, after a refusal to comply.
Around Nelson-Mandela Square where the powerful yellow Mercedes driven by a teenager ran aground a little less than a year ago, the security system is proving dissuasive. At regular intervals, however, small groups of young people come to rub shoulders, without however showing hostility.
A crucial day for the investigation
“You have to understand them,” whispers a retiree whose Yorkshire Terrier stretches its legs on the terrace paths. This story touched them, some of them lost a friend. And then, whether we like it or not, Nahel has become a symbol. They come to see what exactly is going on but they won’t do anything wrong. »
“They are aware that this day is important and even essential for the investigation,” says an educator who came to take the temperature a stone’s throw from the prefecture where, as on all roads, police barriers filter the comings and goings.
“Basically, there’s not much point in being there,” admits a teenager. But the truth is also that we want to see it. » In other words, seeing the police officer who, on this tragic June 27, pulled the trigger of his service weapon, hitting Nahel in the chest. This police officer indicted for intentional homicide, the rare young people present this Sunday will not see him, kept, like the press, at a reasonable distance from the scene of the reconstruction.
They will not see him repeat the gestures made that day, at the exact location of the shooting, at the corner of Passage François-Arago and Boulevard de la Défense. They will just see the car, brought to the site, on a flatbed truck.
An important safety feature
To protect the site from view, screening material including tarpaulins was transported very early on by a 19-ton truck. “I know that there is the secrecy of education and all that, but it also gives the impression that we are trying to hide things,” regrets another teenager. Don’t let us get close, okay. But how can seeing what is happening harm the investigation? »
However, the instructions were firm. Including to the addresses of the residents closest to the reconstruction sites. “We were asked to avoid going to the windows,” whispers a resident. And of course, not to take photos or film. » It is difficult to say how long this long-awaited reconstruction will last. The security device must not be lifted before 8 p.m.
