Riots are spreading out across France following the fatal shooting of an unarmed 17-year-old boy of North African descent. As the French government scramble to contain a mounting crisis, here’s everything you need to know.

WHY DID THE UNREST START?

On Tuesday of this week (June 27), in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, 17-year-old Nahel was killed by police after driving off during a routine traffic check. The police initially claimed that the officer fired the shot because Nahel was driving his car towards him, but this version of events was soon contradicted by video footage which surfaced on social media. The officer responsible has now been charged with voluntary homicide. 

Nahel’s mother has paid tribute to her son, remembering a “kind, respectful boy.” “I devoted everything to him,” she said in an interview. “My heart was taken away from me.”

HOW HAS THE SITUATION DEVELOPED?

The first protests took place on Tuesday night, where around 30 people were arrested in Nanterre. The following evening, the unrest spread throughout Paris and in cities across France, including Lille, Toulouse, Amiens, Dijon and the suburbs of Lyon. According to France’s interior minister, 170 officers were injured and 180 protesters were arrested on Wednesday night (June 28).

Today (June 29) there was a vigil in Nanterre, where thousands of people lined the streets chanting “justice for Nahel”. The teenager’s mother was also present, riding atop a lorry and waving to the crowd.

After a peaceful start, the situation escalated. Protestors set fire to several cars, set up barricades and lobbed projectiles at the police, who responded with tear gas. At least one bank was raided, and footage shows crowds of young people breaking upon ATMs. The slogan “Vengeance for Nehal” was scrawled across the suburb.

HOW’S EVERYONE REACTING?

France has experienced similar waves of unrest in the past: in 2005, the country faced three weeks of riots after two young people were electrocuted following a police chase, having hidden in a power station. This led the government to institute a state of emergency which lasted for over three months.

Some French politicians are calling for similar measures to be introduced now, but this option has been dismissed by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. However, the government’s response has been swift. Public transport will be suspended in Paris tonight, 40,000 police will be deployed across the country, and three special and elite police units are standing by in case the situation escalates further. Macron has condemned both the shooting and the subsequent unrest.

WHAT’S THE BROADER CONTEXT?

Much like the UK and the US, France has a serious problem with racist policing, which is particularly severe in the low-income suburbs of its major cities. According to Human Rights Watch, the French police engage in “long-standing and widespread ethnic profiling”. Rather than a standalone tragedy, Nahel’s death is understood as part of a pattern of structural racism and police impunity. This is backed up by evidence: Reuters news agency surveyed the victims of lethal French police shootings during traffic stops since 2017, and found that the majority were Black or Arab. 

One woman who attended the vigil told Le Monde (a French newspaper) that as a mother of a Black child she knows her son “can be perceived as an aggressor” and has had to teach him to be “docile” to keep him safe from police violence. “We know it’s a risk for our children to be outside in public spaces," she said.

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