Protesters fired fireworks at police and set cars ablaze in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, hours after French President Emmanuel Macron lamented on Wednesday the “inexcusable” death of a 17-year-old teenager shot during a police approach in traffic.
The police officers’ use of lethal force against the teenager, who was of North African origin, fueled a deeply ingrained perception of police brutality in the ethnically diverse suburbs of France’s largest cities.
On Avenida Pablo Picasso in Nanterre, a trail of overturned vehicles burned as fireworks exploded in the ranks of police.
Police clashed with protesters in the northern city of Lille and in Toulouse in the southwest. There was also unrest in Amiens, Dijon, and in the administrative department of Essone, south of the French capital, a police spokesman said.
Earlier, President Emmanuel Macron called the incident “inexplicable and inexcusable”.
A police officer is being investigated for voluntary manslaughter for shooting the young man. Prosecutors say the youth failed to comply with an order to stop his car.
The Interior Ministry urged calm and said 2,000 police had been deployed in the Paris region.
Human rights groups allege systemic racism within police forces in France, a charge Macron has previously denied.
(Posted by Fabio Mendes)
Source: CNN Brasil
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