Thousands have taken to the streets in France to protest after another police shooting. But will anything change?
In the Paris suburb of Nanterre, thousands of people have taken to the streets to remember a 17-year-old boy killed by police during a traffic stop.
Nahel M was shot at close range in the chest and the incident was caught on video, sparking unrest across France and a police crackdown. Thousands of people have been arrested, and cars and buildings across the country are burning. As protests rage, will the police be held accountable, and will there be justice for Nahel?
Thousands defy bans in France to rally against police violenceFrench police have come under renewed scrutiny following the June 27 shooting of a teenager of Arab descent. Thousands of French protesters have defied a ban to march in central Paris against police violence, a week after riots sparked by the killing of a teenager in a Parisian suburb broke out. Police dispersed the 2,000 protesters from Paris’s huge Place de la Republique on Saturday, sending several hundred people towards the wide Boulevard Magenta where they were seen marching peacefully. Two people were arrested, the Paris police department said after the demonstration. It said it had banned the planned demonstration due to a “context of tensions”.
Protesters called the ban “shocking”.
“We still enjoy freedom of expression in France but freedom of assembly, in particular, is under threat”, said Felix Bouvarel, a health worker who came to the gathering in spite of the ban. About 30 demonstrations against police violence also took place across France, including in the southern port city of Marseille and Strasbourg in the east.
Authorities in Lille banned a gathering.
The rallies came a week after the country was rocked by riots sparked by the killing of Nahel M at a traffic stop in the Nanterre suburb of the French capital. The 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan origin was driving a sports car without a licence.
Source: aljazeera.com
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
