“It will be a silent march, where I will make a short speech,” Mounia Merzouk, Nahel’s mother, declared on RTL on Thursday. She will talk about her son, “what he was like” and how “a grieving mother” lives. 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.
VIDEOS. A year ago, Nahel’s death sparked riots in France
On June 27, 2023, Nahel Merzouk, 17, died from a police officer’s shot in the chest, after a “refusal to comply” in Nanterre. The night following the tragedy, riots broke out to protest against the death of the teenager in the Paris region and in large cities in France, including Bordeaux.
Car chase
According to elements of the investigation, following a chase, the vehicle driven by Nahel was stopped by traffic. A first police version, according to which the young man drove towards the biker, 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.
Danger of death ?
Florian M., a police motorcyclist aged 38 at the time of the events and indicted for 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 were confronted with their statements, in particular to establish whether Florian M. was in danger of death.
