Several hundred people gathered on Saturday June 29 in Nanterre to pay tribute to Nahel, 17, whose death a year ago during a police check sparked 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 early in the afternoon from the Charles-de-Gaulle esplanade, a few hundred meters from the Pablo-Picasso district where the teenager lived, towards the Nelson-Mandela square where the teenager died.
Behind them, many silent young people dressed in white t-shirts reading “Justice for Nahel, executed on June 27, 2023”. “We are here to support the mother”Fatou, 16, who came with two of her friends, explained to Agence France-Presse.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Death of Nahel in Nanterre, at the roots of a conflagration
Add to your selections
Questions about the police shooting
The young man was killed on June 27, 2023, by a bullet fired at point-blank range by a motorcycle police officer who was checking the vehicle he was driving. According to elements of the investigation, the vehicle driven by Nahel had been stopped by traffic after 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. We see the two police officers on the side of the vehicle, pointing their weapons 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 danger of death because they were trapped between the car and a wall.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In Nanterre, a year after Nahel’s death, the feeling of injustice remains
Add to your selections
The shooter, Florian M., a 38-year-old motorcyclist at the time of the shooting, was charged with murder and imprisoned for five months. He was released and placed under judicial supervision in November 2023 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 who fired the shot, his colleague present that day and several witnesses were confronted with their statements, in particular to establish whether Florian M. was in danger of death.
Read also | Death of Nahel M.: a reconstruction organized in Nanterre under high surveillance
Add to your selections
Nahel’s death sparked riots of exceptional magnitude across France. Public buildings were 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.
