A cyclist passes, in Nanterre, northwest of Paris, on June 6, 2024, in front of a fresco in tribute to Nahel, killed at 17 last year by a police officer during a check (AFP / Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT)
Several hundred people gathered on Saturday in Nanterre to pay tribute to Nahel, 17, whose death a year ago during a police check caused several days of riots throughout the country.
Led by the mother and relatives of the victim behind a banner “Justice for Nahel and for all the others”, the procession set off at the beginning of the afternoon from the Charles-de-Gaulle esplanade, a few hundred meters from the Pablo-Picasso neighborhood where the teenager lived, towards Nelson-Mandela Square where the teenager died.
Behind them, many silent young people wearing white T-shirts reading “Justice for Nahel, executed on 06/27/2023”.
“We are here to support the mother,” Fatou, 16, who came with her friends, told AFP.
The young man was killed on June 27, 2023 by a bullet fired at close range by a motorcycle police officer who was controlling the vehicle he was driving.
According to elements of the investigation, the vehicle driven by Nahel had been stopped by traffic following a chase.
A first police version, according to which the young man drove towards the biker, was quickly refuted by an amateur video of the scene posted on social networks.
General view of the Pablo-Picasso district in Nanterre, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, on June 6, 2024 (AFP / Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT)
We see the two police officers on the side of the vehicle, pointing their guns at the driver. One of them opens fire as the vehicle starts again. The car then crashed into a concrete block, a few dozen meters further on.
The police maintained that they were in mortal danger because they were trapped between the car and a wall.
The perpetrator of the shooting, Florian M., a motorcyclist aged 38 at the time of the incident, was indicted for murder and imprisoned for five months. He was released and placed under judicial supervision in November after several requests from his lawyer.
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 were compared their statements, in particular to establish whether Florian M. was in danger of death.
A woman brandishes a banner “Justice for Nahel” in Nanterre on June 27, 2023 as cars burn during a march in tribute to Nahel, killed at 17 last year by a police officer (AFP / Bertrand GUAY)
Nahel’s death led to riots of exceptional magnitude throughout France.
Public buildings attacked, schools and courts burned, shops looted: a Senate report estimated that the damage caused by the riots, shorter but more intense than those of 2005, had cost one billion euros.
