NANTERRE – A moment ” calm » et « of meditation “. One year later, a march in tribute to Nahel is organized this Saturday, June 29 in Nanterre, in Hauts-de-Seine. On June 27, 2023, the death of the 17-year-old, killed by a police officer during a check, provoked several days of riots and became a symbol of the fight against police violence.
One year after the death of Nahel, killed by a police officer in Nanterre, what we know about the investigation
The march will start at 2 p.m. from the Charles de Gaulle esplanade, a few hundred meters from the Pablo Picasso district, where the teenager lived. The procession will then follow Pesaro Boulevard before reaching Nelson Mandela Square, where Nahel died.
“A silent march” for Nahel
“It will be a silent march, where I will give a little speech”, declared Mounia Merzouk, Nahel’s mother, on RTL on Thursday. She will talk about her son, “how he was” and how to live “a grieving mother”. And “II will ask that justice does its job”does it also slip into Parisian.
Mounia, organizer of the march, and “Nahel friends” if they wish, will be the only ones to speak during this gathering which takes place in a particular context, on the eve of the first round of the early legislative elections. “I call for calm, dignity and contemplation”she repeats.
Some 500 to 800 people are expected, according to a police source, with no risk of any particular disturbance expected. This demonstration was the subject of a declaration to the prefecture, according to the Hauts-de-Seine prefecture.
Where is the investigation?
According to elements of the investigation, at the end of a chase, the vehicle driven by Nahel had been stopped by traffic. An initial police version, according to which the young man had charged at the motorcyclist, was quickly refuted by a video of the scene posted on social networks.
The two police officers are seen on the side of the vehicle, pointing their guns at the driver. One of them shoots him as the vehicle starts moving again. The car then crashes into a concrete block a few dozen meters away. The police officers maintained that they were in mortal danger because they were stuck between the car and a wall.
Florian M., a 38-year-old police motorcyclist at the time of the events and charged with murder, was placed in pre-trial detention for five months. He was released and placed under judicial supervision in November after several requests from his counsel.
A reconstruction of the facts took place on May 5: in the presence of their lawyers, the police officer responsible for the shooting, his colleague present that day and several witnesses compared their statements, in particular to establish whether Florian M. was in danger of dead.
Nahel’s death led to riots of exceptional scale throughout France. Public buildings attacked, schools and courts burned, stores looted: a Senate report estimated that the damage caused by the riots, shorter but more intense than those of 2005, represents one billion euros.
Also see on HuffPost:
Death of Nahel: in Nanterre, a reconstruction organized this Sunday, one year after the events
Michel Zecler’s assault: more than three years after the events, the investigation has finally been completed
