NundergroundNanterre (Hauts-de-Seine).– This public tribute to Nahel will be the last. ” It s too difficult “warns his mother Mounia Merzouk, in front of the crowd gathered on the Nelson Mandela esplanade. On June 27, 2023, her son was declared dead there, following a police shooting after he refused to comply.
Messaouda, 38 years old, a Palestinian keffiyeh on her shoulders like many others, came specially from Lyon to participate in this silent march in the streets of Nanterre, without knowing anyone in the crowd except the two friends who accompanied her. Even from afar, she says she experienced Nahel’s death like a “personal tragedy”.
“When you are racialized like me, when you live in a working-class neighborhood, you inevitably feel concerned.”, judges the 38-year-old educator. Messaouda therefore responded to a sort of“call of the heart”even if the context, a few hours before the first round of the legislative elections, seems difficult to escape. “Fascism and the police never go well together, we fear the worst”considers the young woman.
Mounia Merzouk, mother of Nahel, in the front row of the march organized on June 29, 2024 in tribute to her, one year after her death, in Nanterre. © Jerome Gilles / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
Enlarge image: Illustration 1
Since the beginning of the afternoon, this heavy atmosphere, loaded with issues, has weighed on the city, between the André-Malraux park, very close to the RER exit, and the Nelson-Mandela esplanade. The prefecture only authorized this short route of less than a kilometer. The police remained very far away for the duration of the march. Shortly after 2 p.m., the surrounding businesses lowered their metal shutters. Everyone remembers the burning cars and the clashes with the police following the boy’s death a year ago, a revolt that spread throughout France at the beginning of the summer of 2023.
Several historic activists against police violence and racism are present, such as Assa Traoré, from the Justice pour Adama collective, as well as political figures – the mayor of Nanterre, Raphaël Adam, but also Mathilde Panot, Danièle Obono, Rima Hassan from La France insoumise (LFI), or Christine Poupin from the Nouveau Parti anticapitaliste (NPA). However, none of these figures will speak or comment on the event, due to electoral reserve. Nahel’s entourage also confirms their fears “instrumentalization”.
“There was a desire to depoliticize the march, it was the family’s wish, even if the context speaks for itselfexplain activists from Urgence Palestine, who have just arrived from neighboring suburbs. Nasser, a lifelong resident of Nanterre, confirms this choice of the young boy’s family, anxious to avoid excesses at all costs, while high-risk elections collide with the date of the commemoration.
A walk in memory
The mood is first of all the memory of the boy “helpful, kind”the ” Yes yes “ from the neighborhood that everyone describes: “Nahel, I had him as an educator, I wanted to find him a mechanical internship, because that’s what our job is with 17-year-old kids, transforming seeds into nuggetsexplains Nasser. They didn’t give me time…”
Noise of scooter engines and small movement of crowds. “Ah, the young people from Pablo are arriving”exclaims a protester. Dressed in the same white t-shirt, mentioning the young man’s date of birth and the date of his death, coming in force from the last neighborhood where Nahel lived, these young people almost all have their heads covered by a mask or a piece of cloth, caps pulled down tightly on their heads. All those who film are also roundly reprimanded. “They fear the images, and the possible retaliatory measures from the police this evening, in the neighborhood”, explains Cinthia, FCPE (Federation of Parents’ Councils) representative in one of the schools in the Pâquerettes district.
The march begins, without shouts or slogans, led by a vigilant security service. Nahel’s mother, surrounded by young people, walks in front, a thousand people following her. “They need silence, support, no noiseargues Shahinaz, 24 years old, resident of Nanterre, education assistant in a college. Police blunders are our daily life, it’s not politics. » She recovers: “Or our daily life is political.” On the only authorized banner which was deployed in front, these words are written: “Justice for Nahel, and for all the others”.
Anti-police violence activist Samia El Kalfaoui is also in the procession. Her nephew was killed four years ago by a law enforcement officer. “Since his death, I sleep, I eat, I live with article 435-1 of the Internal Security Code, which authorized the use of force in the event of refusal to complysays Samia El Kalfaoui. There were more than 100 deaths due to this article, many young people like Nahel, racialized, from working-class neighborhoods. I don’t understand why we don’t understand the seriousness of what is happening. But today, despite the stress we feel at the idea that the worst could happen tomorrow, it is a time for reflection. »
” No justice, no peace “
At the end of the short journey, Nahel’s mother takes the microphone. “We are here to say that the lives of our children in our neighborhoods have value, so that the memory of my son is respected, so that we obtain justice for those who killed my son. It’s very hard for me to know that these two police officers are outside. It’s tearing me up, I can’t do it. »
One of these two police officers, indicted for murder (an extremely rare decision in cases of fatal violence involving law enforcement officers, read our article on this subject), was released from pretrial detention in November 2023. He is now awaiting trial. The second police officer has been placed under assisted witness status. The investigation into the case is still ongoing.
You experience humiliation, discrimination, you are dehumanized, but hear how much we love you.
“I no longer have Nahelinsists Mounia Merzouk. My son was executed live. Who can bear this? I smile, you see me like that, dressed, my hair done, but inside, I’m nobody anymore. » Opposite her, in the crowd, a mother whose son was killed nine years ago collapses in tears in the arms of another. “Take care of your children, take care of your parents, continues Nahel’s mother, who concludes by asking the audience present to ” do not let it go “to think about it ” tomorrow “short and only electoral allusion.
After a minute of silence, and a prayer said by the imam of Nanterre, the procession turns back and takes on other attire. The silence of the beginning is followed by sounds ” No justice, no peace ! “THE “Justice for Nahel” as several protesters chant the anti-fascist slogan in unison « We are all anti-fascists »Back on Place Charles-de-Gaulle, two young people also unfurl a large black banner, which recalls the kitty of 1.6 million euros set aside for the police officer who shot Nahel, at the request of several far-right representatives.
Trade unionist Mornia Labsi, who led the entire march, takes the microphone again, as “daughter of Nanterre”to greet the “tender and bubbly children” of his city. “You experience humiliation, discrimination, you are dehumanized, but hear how much we love youshe proclaims with emotion in front of the small crowd who are struggling to leave the premises. For us, for France, you are important. » She repeats, tirelessly: “Hear how much we love you.”
