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After Paris Suburb Unrest, Macron Deplores ‘Inexcusable’ Police Killing of Teenager

Police in riot gear stand next to a fire burning in the street after a demonstration in Nanterre, west of Paris, on June 27, 2023, after French police killed a teenager who refused to stop for a traffic check in the city. (AFP)
Police in riot gear stand next to a fire burning in the street after a demonstration in Nanterre, west of Paris, on June 27, 2023, after French police killed a teenager who refused to stop for a traffic check in the city. (AFP)
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After Paris Suburb Unrest, Macron Deplores ‘Inexcusable’ Police Killing of Teenager

Police in riot gear stand next to a fire burning in the street after a demonstration in Nanterre, west of Paris, on June 27, 2023, after French police killed a teenager who refused to stop for a traffic check in the city. (AFP)
Police in riot gear stand next to a fire burning in the street after a demonstration in Nanterre, west of Paris, on June 27, 2023, after French police killed a teenager who refused to stop for a traffic check in the city. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called the shooting dead of a 17-year-old by police during a traffic stop near Paris "inexcusable" in rare criticism of law-enforcement hours after the incident triggered unrest.

A police officer is being investigated for voluntary homicide for shooting the youth, who was of North African origin. Prosecutors say he failed to comply with an order to stop his car early on Monday.

The interior ministry called for calm after at least 31 were arrested in overnight clashes, mainly in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where the victim lived, with youths burning cars and shooting fireworks at police, who sprayed people with tear gas.

"We have an adolescent that was killed, it is unexplainable and inexcusable," Macron told reporters in Marseille.

"Nothing justifies the death of a young man," he said, before calling for the judiciary to do its work.

Rights groups allege systemic racism inside law-enforcement agencies in France, a charge Macron has previously denied.

A video shared on social media, verified by Reuters, shows two police officers beside the car, a Mercedes AMG, with one shooting at the driver as the car pulled away. He subsequently died from his wounds, the local prosecutor said.

"You have a video that is very clear: a police officer killed a young man of 17 years. We can see that the shooting is not within the rules," said Yassine Bouzrou, a lawyer for the family.

Lawmakers held a minute's silence in the National Assembly, where Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the shooting "seems clearly not to comply with the rules."

The family has filed a legal complaint against the officers for homicide, complicity in homicide and false testimony, the lawyer said.

In a video shared on TikTok, a woman identified as the victim's mother called for a memorial march in Nanterre on Thursday. "Everyone come, we will lead a revolt for my son," she said.

Unusually frank

Tuesday's killing was the third fatal shooting during traffic stops in France so far in 2023 down from a record 13 last year, a spokesperson for the national police said.

There were three such killings in 2021 and two in 2020, according to a Reuters tally, which shows the majority of victims since 2017 were Black or of Arab origin.

France's human rights ombudsman has opened an inquiry into the death, the sixth such inquiry into similar incidents in 2022 and 2023.

Macron's remarks were unusually frank in a country where senior politicians are often reticent to criticize police given voters' security concerns.

He has faced criticism from rivals who accuse him of being soft on drug dealers and petty criminals and has implemented policies aimed at curbing urban crime, including greater authority for police to issue fines.

In the wake of the overnight unrest, the interior ministry said 2,000 police have been mobilized in the Paris region.

The streets of Nanterre were calm on Wednesday morning and Fatima, a resident, said she hoped there would be no more violence.

"To revolt like we did yesterday won't change things, we need to discuss and talk," she said.

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France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
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France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)

France held a national day of mourning for Mayotte, its Indian Ocean territory devastated by a violent cyclone on Dec. 14, beginning in the morning on Monday with a minute of silence for the scores of residents left dead by the storm.

Cyclone Chido was the worst storm to hit Mayotte's two main islands in 90 years, and authorities have said that perhaps thousands of people may have been killed in its wake, though the government's death toll stands at 35.

To commemorate Mayotte's losses, French flags were lowered to half-mast. Separately, flags were flown at half-mast in Brussels and Strasbourg because of Mayotte, as well as following attacks last week on a German Christmas market and in a Croatian school.

"It is a communion in mourning," Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told reporters. He said the day showed solidarity for those in Mayotte, and that France was "present to reconstruct Mayotte and make sure the people of Mayotte feel surrounded by the entire country."

Following the storm, officials say corpses may have been buried quickly per religious custom, before they could be counted, and that many of the people killed may have been undocumented immigrants.

Mozambique has said 94 people died in the disaster, while 13 were killed in neighboring Malawi.

ANGER

The slow pace of aid and delays in the arrival of clean water have angered residents of Mayotte, France's poorest overseas territory located between Madagascar and Mozambique about 8,000 km (4971 miles) from the mainland, with some heckling President Emmanuel Macron during his visit last week.

For Mohamed Abdou, a doctor in Pamandzi, the day of French mourning was a political stunt and did not do enough to account for historic neglect leading up to this point.

"Whether in terms of hospitals, the lack of water infrastructure, electricity, and so on ... at this point, we need to say 'mea culpa' and acknowledge mistakes were made," he told Reuters, speaking from his town in the south of Mayotte's smaller island.

Francois-Noel Buffet, France's acting minister of overseas territories, told France 2 that water - a flashpoint even before the disaster - had made it to the island, saying: "We are not missing water. We have water, notably bottled water. We have a problem with distribution."

Buffet said he expected a special law on the reconstruction of Mayotte to be introduced in early January.

In Paris, Bayrou, France's fourth prime minister this year, is expected to unveil his cabinet Monday evening, though the timing was uncertain. The French presidency said the announcement would not take place before 6:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), to take into account the day of mourning.

Estelle Youssouffa, a lawmaker for Mayotte, criticized the government in an interview with Radio France Internationale for possibly making the announcement on the day of mourning, accusing Bayrou, who had not yet visited the islands, of "humiliating us a second time."