WATCH: Tension erupts in France after police shoot 17-year-old in Paris suburb; check details
Local residents staged a protest outside the police station. Tensions increased later on Tuesday between police and protesters who started fires, set a car on fire, wrecked bus stations and tossed firecrackers at police, who then used tear gas and dispersion grenades to put out the fires.
FollowClashes broken out between protesters and police following public outrage over the shooting death of a 17-year-old in the Paris suburb of Nanterre after the youth allegedly failed to comply with a police order to stop his car. On Tuesday, the teenager was driving in a rental car in the western Paris suburb when police pulled him over for breaking several road rules, prosecutors said.
A video that is making rounds on social media shows two police officers trying to stop the vehicle, with one pointing his weapon at the driver through the window and firing at close range when the youth apparently continues to drive. The car moved a few dozen metres before crashing. Emergency services tried to resuscitate the teenager at the scene but he died shortly afterwards.
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Local residents staged a protest outside the police station. Tensions increased later on Tuesday between police and protesters who started fires, set a car on fire, wrecked bus stations and tossed firecrackers at police, who then used tear gas and dispersion grenades to put out the fires.
Nine people were arrested in the confrontations, authorities said.
The video circulating on social media showed youths clashing with police late into the evening, including a clip that appeared to show protests also in the heart of Paris – located about 11km (almost 7 miles) from the restive suburb.
The officer accused of firing on the driver has been arrested on homicide charges, the Nanterre prosecutors office said.
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France's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told parliament the two police officers involved were being questioned and acknowledged that the images posted on social media were "extremely shocking". In a statement, the lawyers rejected a reported statement by the police that officers' lives were in danger because the driver had threatened to run them over.
Yassine Bouzrou, a lawyer for the family, told local media that while all parties needed to wait for the result of the investigation, the images "clearly showed a policeman killing a young man in cold blood".
"This is a long way from any kind of legitimate defence," he said, adding the family had filed a complaint accusing the police of "lying" by initially claiming the car had tried to run down the officers.
In 2022, France reported as many as 13 deaths from police shootings during traffic stops. This is the second fatal shooting in such circumstances in 2023. Three people were killed by police shooting after refusing to comply with a traffic stop in 2021 and two in 2020.
