'Not a new phenomenon': Fatal police shooting in France reignites unrest, protests
Human rights advocates and a policing expert say protests over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver in France have again put a spotlight on police violence and issues of race.
The shooting of the teenager, identified only as Nahel, bears some similarity to traffic stop deaths involving people of color in the United States. Much like the protests against racial injustice and police brutality following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 — which also broke out in France — the sometimes-violent French protests were sparked in part by a viral video, which shows two officers leaning into the driver-side window of a car seconds before one fired a gun as the driver sped away.
The dramatic outburst of anger over the shooting is also the result of an increase in deadly encounters with the police and long-simmering tensions between law enforcement and young people, particularly people of color, in disadvantaged neighborhoods, said Jacques de Maillard, a political science professor at the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin and co-editor of "Policing in France." De Maillard said these issues should be "taken very seriously" by French national police and "need to be addressed in a peaceful, long-term manner."
French authorities Thursday announced 40,000 officers were deployed in response to the protests. More than 875 people were arrested and at least 200 police officers injured as the government struggled to restore order Thursday night heading into Friday morning, the third night of unrest in the country. French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday asked parents to keep teens at home.
"We should not forget that the reasons for what we're witnessing (are) structural tension, unease, activity between the police and young men in poor neighborhoods," de Maillard said.
French police protests are 'not a new phenomenon'
Deadly shootings are less common in France than in the United States, which has a much larger population and about 1,000 fatal police shootings each year, according to the Washington Post's database.
But deaths involving the police have previously rocked France. De Maillard said recent protests are reminiscent of the riots in 2005 over the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traoré and 17-year-old Zyed Benna, who were electrocuted after hiding from police in a power substation in Clichy-sous-Bois. Floyd's killing also helped shed light on the death Adama Traoré, whose family believes he was asphyxiated by police in 2016.
"What's happening today is really not a new phenomenon," said Romain Montbeyre-Soussand, a member of the campaign group SOS Racisme, through a translator. "France has been denouncing for years and years the consequences of 20, 40 years of police forces and the way they operate."
The number of deadly shootings involving people in moving cars increased dramatically after the law was changed to allow police to shoot at a vehicle when a suspect is fleeing, even if the officers themselves are not in immediate danger, according to de Maillard. He said proper training has not followed the legal change, which he called ambiguous.
An analysis from French researchers published in 2022 found five times as many people in vehicles were shot by police after the law was introduced in 2017.
Last year, 13 people who didn’t comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by French police. The majority of those killed in such shootings since 2017 were Black or of Arab origin, Reuters reported.
Some, including Montbeyre-Soussand, are calling for the law to be reevaluated. De Maillard said the recent wave of protests could result in a change in the law, but it's too early tell.
French police, much like American law enforcement, have also been criticized in the past for using heavy-handed tactics against protesters. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin's office said Friday the hundreds of arrests during protests against Nahel's killing were part of government efforts to be “extremely firm” with rioters.
Montbeyre-Soussand called law enforcement's reaction to the protests, which he said are often led by very young people, "largely disproportionate."
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged French authorities to ensure use of force during the demonstrations "always respects the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability."
France must 'recognize that there is a deep problem of racism in the police'
Montbeyre-Soussand said it is particularly difficult to talk about race in France, which has a doctrine of colorblind universalism. The recent protests are a reaction not only to one instance of police violence, but also the daily stigmatization of young Black and North African men, many of whom are descended from immigrants, Montbeyre-Soussand said.
The racial element of police violence is central in the United States, but it is only "implicit" in France, de Maillard said.
"The racial dimension does not explain the whole thing, but it's clearly part of the story," de Maillard said of the outrage over Nahel's death.
One of the teen's relatives said their family is of Algerian descent. Nahel’s mother, Mounia, told France 5 television she blames the officer who fired the fatal shot, but not the police in general.
“He saw a little, Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life,” she said, adding justice should be “very firm.”
A 2017 survey from Rights Defenders, an independent human rights watchdog in France, found 80% of young men perceived to be Black or Arab reported they were subject to identity checks within the last five years, making them 20 times more likely to be stopped by police.
Shamdasani said the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern in December about “the frequent use of identity checks, discriminatory stops, the application of criminal fixed fines imposed by the police or law enforcement agencies, that they said disproportionately targets members of certain minority groups.”
"This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement," Shamdasani said in a statement on Nahel's death.
In order for the country to move forward, it must "recognize that there is a deep problem of racism in the police," Montbeyre-Soussand said.
"So in terms of fixing these feeling of injustice, look towards justice and prosecute the officers," Montbeyre-Soussand said. "Change and improve the training of the police officers."
Contributing: The Associated Press