Protests
and unrest erupted in the French capital overnight after police shot
dead a 17-year-old who failed to stop when ordered to by traffic police.
Video
circulating on social media shows a police officer pointing a gun at
the driver of a car, before a gunshot is heard. The car then crashes to a
stop.
The teenager, named as Naël M, died of bullet wounds in the chest despite help from emergency services.
The officer accused of shooting him has been detained on homicide charges.
According
to newspaper Le Monde, police initially suggested the teen drove his
car towards them with the intention of hurting them.
But footage posted online, verified by AFP news agency, tells a different story.
It
shows two officers trying to stop the vehicle. One points his weapon at
the driver through the window and appears to fire at point-blank range
as he tries to drive off.
The
agency also reports that a person in the video can be heard saying
"you're going to be shot in the head" - but it is unclear who says it.
Two others were in the car at the time of the shooting - one fled while another, also a minor, was arrested and held by police.
The
shooting triggered a series of protests on Tuesday night in Nanterre,
the area just west of Paris where the teenager was killed.
Cars
and rubbish bins were set alight, and bus shelters destroyed. Fireworks
were also set off near the police station. Riot police used tear gas to
break up protesters, some of whom created barricades throughout the
night.
Twenty people were arrested following the disorder.
Several
incidents of unrest were also recorded in the towns of Asnières,
Colombes, Suresnes, Aubervilliers, Clichy-sous-Bois and Mantes-la-Jolie.
Authorities
have opened two separate investigations following the teen's death -
one into a possible killing by a public official, and another into the
driver's failure to stop his vehicle and alleged attempt to kill a
police officer.
Paris
police chief Laurent Nuñez told French television station BFMTV that
the policeman's actions "raises questions", though he suggested the
officer may have felt threatened.
The
17-year-old's family lawyer Yassine Bouzrou insisted that was an
illegitimate defence, telling the same channel the video "clearly showed
a policeman killing a young man in cold blood".
He
added that the family had filed a complaint against police for "lying" -
after initially claiming the car had tried to run down the officers.
Another
lawyer representing the victim's family, Jennifer Cambla, told local
media that nothing could justify what had happened, and described the
death as an "execution".
France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Tuesday said the video shared on social media was "extremely shocking".
He urged people to "respect the grief of the family and the presumption of innocence of the police".
Left-wing
leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon expressed his "heartfelt condolences" to the
family of the teen. "No officer has the right to kill unless in
self-defence," he wrote in a tweet.
"This uncontrolled police force discredits the authority of the state. It needs to be completely overhauled," he added.
Two
weeks ago, a 19-year-old driver was shot dead by police in the western
France town of Angouleme, after allegedly hitting an officer in the legs
during a traffic stop.
Last
year, a record 13 people died from police shootings in France during
traffic stops, according to Reuters news agency. The death of Naël M is
the second this year.
