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.
Taken by the victim’s mother and relatives 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 district where Nahel lived, towards the Nelson-Mandela square where the teenager is dead.
Mounia Merzouk, Nahel’s mother, spoke during the march: “I can’t show you how I live at home. When I come home, I have no one left, […] I look at my son’s room, it’s empty.”
Police version contested
Many silent young people marched alongside Mounia. “We are here to support the mother”explained to theAFP Fatou, 16, came with her friends.
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 rental vehicle that Nahel was driving while he did not have a license, had been stopped by traffic after a chase.
Read also: From the death of Nahel to the urban riots, the story of the seven nights that set France ablaze
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.
The two police officers are seen on the side of the vehicle, pointing their guns at the driver. One of them opens fire 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.
Shot-firer released
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 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 compared their statements, in particular to establish whether Florian M. was in danger of dead.
Read also: Death of Nahel: reconstruction this morning, police version undermined… Update on the investigation
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, had cost one billion euros.
