A France police shooting video has sparked riots that led to injuries of hundreds of police officers and the burning of buildings, buses and cars, according to Reuters.
You can watch the shooting video below, but be forewarned that it is disturbing. It shows the moment that a French police officer shot and killed Nahel Merzouk, 17, as he tried to pull away from a traffic stop.
According to France24, the video contradicted the initial police account that Nahel Merzouk had driven toward an officer.
BBC reported that the French police officer, who was not named, was taken into custody and charged with homicide.
Here’s what you need to know:
The France Police Shooting Video Shows the Officer Pointing His Gun Toward the Driver’s Side Window
Wtf?
Paris, France.
French police officer is being investigated for homicide over the fatal shooting a 17-year-old boy in the Paris suburb of Nanterre after he failed to comply with an order to stop his car.
In the France shooting video, which has gone viral on social media, Merzouk’s yellow car is seen with two French police officers at the driver’s side window, one with gun drawn. According to France24, a voice is heard in the video saying, “You are going to get a bullet in the head.”
Merzouk appears to drive away, with his car making contact with the elbow of the officer, who then fired. The yellow car continues moving out of the scene.
According to France24, Nahel M. was driving a yellow Mercedes that was pulled over for “traffic violations” when he was shot at “pointblank range.”
Merzouk’s mother, Mounia, told the France 5 channel, according to CBS News: “I don’t blame the police. I blame one person: the one who took the life of my son.”
She accused the officer of having seen “an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life.” The officer is 38 years old, CBS News reported.
Nahel Merzouk Was a Delivery Driver & Rugby Player Who Was Raised by a Single Mother
France saw unrest spread to major cities in a third night of riots as President Emmanuel Macron fought to contain a mounting unrest triggered by the deadly police shooting of a teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent during a traffic stop t.co/y6QIwZFJtC
According to BBC, Merzouk was a delivery driver who played Rugby and was raised by a single mother in the French suburb of Nanterre.
Merzouk was of Algerian and Moroccan descent, according to Reuters.
After he was shot, an ambulance driver named Marouane “launched a tirade against a police officer, explaining later that he knew the boy as if he was his little brother,” BBC reported.
Marouane told BBC: “He never lifted raised a hand to anyone and he was never violent.”
According to Reuters, three days of riots left more than 200 officers injured and resulted in more than 800 arrests.
Stores were looted and buildings were burned, according to BBC.
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted, “A third of those arrested last night are young people, sometimes very young. I call parents to responsibility.”
He added in another tweet, “There is an unacceptable instrumentalization of the death of a teenager when the period should be one of meditation and respect.”
On June 29, 2023, Macron tweeted, “Violence against police stations, schools, town halls, against the Republic, is unjustifiable. Thank you to the police, gendarmes, firefighters and elected officials mobilized. Meditation, Justice and calm must guide the next few hours.”
More than 40,000 police and gendarmes have been deployed throughout France to quell the rioting, according to CBS News.
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