Police Officer in Nahel Shooting Released; Mother Calls for Protest in Nanterre

On Wednesday, the justice system released Florian M., the police officer who pointed his weapon at Nahel moments before opening fire, on June 27, 2023. This has provoked the anger of the teenager’s mother. "How can my son’s life be worth so little?" asks Mounia. She is calling for a rally this Sunday to protest what she calls a "real injustice".

The police forces express concerns about the holding of this rally. "It can be quite tense. The prefect of police will put significant forces in place. But the idea is not to put CRS cordons right in front of the rally, so as not to provoke. Put mobile forces that can intervene very quickly if for example it catches fire. Now, if there are indeed damage, people throwing mortars, then we will have to intervene because again it is the law," warns Jean-Christophe Couvy, national secretary of the SGP Police Force ouvrière union, contacted by Europe 1.

The death of young Nahel had triggered a week of riots all over France, notably in Lyon, Marseille and the Paris suburbs. About a hundred town halls had been damaged. The damage will cost the insurers 650 million, their federation had estimated on July 11.