Hundreds of individuals crowded onto the streets of Nanterre, many holding banners or placards, demanding « justice for Nahel ».
And within the midst of them, sitting confidently on the roof of a car, was the focus of the demonstration – the girl who has suffered unspeakable ache, and is now channelling her emotion.
Her identify is Mounia, and it was her son Nahel – her solely baby – who was killed on Tuesday morning by a police officer.
You would excuse her for wanting to cover away from the world however as an alternative, she took the lead position right here, asking individuals to hitch a peaceable protest.
Her son’s identify was all over the place – on T-shirts, enormous banners the width of the highway, and chanted as the gang slowly made its approach to the prefecture constructing.
Nahel was remembered and, for many of the march’s size, there was rigidity and anger however no violence.
Possibly that was as a result of there was additionally no signal of a police uniform.
Discuss to simply about anybody right here, and so they’ll inform you a narrative of how, and why, they dislike, distrust or just hate the police.
You hear accusations of brutality, heavy-handed arrests, intimidation and racism.
So whereas there could have been plain-clothed cops among the many crowd, there was no seen presence in any respect.
Which, after two nights of rioting, was putting.
Protesters finally met by tear gasoline and stun grenades
That modified when the march reached its vacation spot close to the prefecture constructing, successfully the executive headquarters of the district.
It was a vacation spot that not solely represented authority however was additionally the very place the place Nahel’s life had come to an finish – his automobile careered to a halt on the far aspect of the sq. in entrance of the prefecture, moments after he had been shot.
And there, defending the prefecture, had been the police.
Traces of vans, filled with the CRS riot police who’ve lengthy been a staple of violent confrontations throughout France.
And as we speak adopted what’s now a well-known sample – rocks and fireworks hurled from protesters; tear gasoline and stun grenades getting back from the police.
The reality, in fact, is {that a} small minority of individuals are instigating the difficulty and there are loads throughout Nanterre and past who really feel that sense of disenfranchisement from society however do not wish to resort to violence.
Learn extra:
Why does France have such a historical past of rioting?
Anarchy and anger have gripped the streets
‘I’m frightened of the police’
But it surely’s additionally true that amongst them sits a seam of sympathy – individuals who have seen their streets lit up with fires and battle, and blame the police.
« I’m frightened of the police, » one man informed me. « If they’ll kill a 17-year-old then they’ll kill anybody. »
There have been two different individuals within the automobile together with Nahel.
One among them has been detained; the opposite escaped and was not caught.
However his associates are in contact with him.
One informed us that the teen painted a really totally different image of what occurred – telling a narrative of the police screaming at them and hitting Nahel with the butt of a pistol.
He apparently claims that the automobile moved ahead as a result of Nahel’s foot slipped off the brake pedal.
We won’t substantiate these claims however we do know that the prosecutor has charged the police officer, who hasn’t been named, with voluntary murder.
There’s little signal that the promptness of that cost has quelled the anger.
However what these rumours – whether or not true or not – have executed is improve the sense, amongst some individuals in some locations on this nation, that the police did not inform the entire story; that they continue to be an issue, fairly than an answer.
And so long as sufficient individuals imagine that, then this dysfunction could rumble on.
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