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Kylian Mbappe speaks out after teen’s killing by police sparks Paris riots

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1 year ago

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Footballer Kylian Mbappe has spoken out after the fatal police shooting of a teenager sparked riots in the suburbs of Paris.

The Paris Saint-Germain star, who also captains the French national team, tweeted to say he “hurts for my France” following the death of the 17-year-old delivery driver during a traffic stop in Nanterre on Tuesday night.

Mbappe, who grew up in nearby Saint-Denis, described what happened as an “unacceptable situation”.

“All my thoughts go out to Naël’s family and loved ones, this little angel who left far too soon,” he wrote.

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According to his family’s lawyers, the victim, named as Nael M, died at the scene.

The police officers present reportedly believed they were in danger because the driver had threatened to run them over after stopping him, but this is rejected by the victim’s family.

Their lawyers cited a video circulating online that shows two police officers leaning into the driver-side window of a yellow car, before the vehicle pulls away and one officer fires towards the driver.

The car is later seen crashed into a nearby post.

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Clashes in Paris over teen death

The victim was wounded by a gunshot and died at the scene, the prosecutor’s office confirmed in a statement.

A passenger in the car was briefly detained and released, and police are searching for another passenger who fled.

The shooting sparked angry scenes as local residents held protests outside the police headquarters, before cars were set on fire and fireworks aimed at riot police, who used tear gas to try to disperse the demonstrators.

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Mother of killed teen: ‘He was a child’

Image:
The violence was sparked by the shooting of a teenager by police during a traffic stop

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday that 31 people had been arrested, 25 police officers injured and 40 cars set alight during the overnight unrest.

Videos purported to be of the incident were “extremely shocking”, he added, pledging a full investigation.

He said 1,200 police were deployed overnight and 2,000 would be out in force today across the French capital and other big cities to “maintain order”.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the young man’s death “inexplicable and inexcusable”.

Appealing for calm on a visit to Marseille, he said: “Nothing justifies the death of a young person.”

Macron faces anxious wait over what happens next

Nobody in France, let alone Paris, will be taking this lightly. It may be nearly 20 years since the city was rocked by three months of riots and a state of emergency, but many remember them well and fear a repeat.

That summer of violence was prompted by the killing of a teenager, just like these riots. And many of the other ingredients are still there.

In the suburbs of the French capital, you can find plenty of housing estates that simmer with discontent – unemployment, racism, high levels of crime and a sense of disconnection from French society.

Add to that a chronic mistrust of the French police, and it doesn’t take much for anger to explode into violence.

The government know this, and they’re reacting. President Macron has expressed concern, saying “nothing justifies the death of a young person” and sent “the sympathy of the nation” to the family of Nael, the teenager shot dead.

But he also knows that this could all spark a fresh political battle as well.

Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National party, has already defended the police, saying they face a climate of violence that should be met with controls on immigration.

Macron and his interior minister Gerald Darmanin must now watch and wait anxiously.

They can’t condone mob violence, but nor do they want to turn a blind eye to the police killing a teenager.

They don’t want to inflame social tensions, but nor do they want to ostracise the police.

And they wait to see whether the violence was a one-off, or the start of something much bigger and much more dangerous.

Several people have died or sustained injuries at the hands of French police in recent years, prompting demands for more accountability.

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