Protests and unrest grip France after police officer kills teen during traffic stop

• At least 180 people had been arrested during the protests and riots as of Thursday, officials said.
• Thousands on Thursday marched with Nahel's mother through Nanterre, the Paris suburb where the teen was killed, to call for justice.
• Nahel's grandmother told a French journalist he was a "kind" and "nice boy" who dreamed of becoming a mechanic, per the New York Times.

What happened: The French prosecutor said police attempted to pull over Nahel, whose surname has not been released, for several traffic violations on Tuesday, AP reported.

• The teen drove through a red light to avoid police but was eventually stopped by traffic at which point the officers approached the vehicle.
• A video of the shooting shows an officer firing his weapon as Nahel drove away. The video contradicts earlier reports by French media, citing police sources, that the teen had driven his vehicle into the officers.
• The officer who shot Nahel said he feared for his and the public's safety, according to a French prosecutor, per AP. The teen was known to authorities for previously violating traffic stop orders, the prosecutor added.
• The prosecutor said his initial investigation concluded “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met."

What they're saying: Lawyers for Nahel's family welcomed the news that the French prosecutor was seeking an investigation into the officer who shot and killed the teen.

• But they said they were disappointed an investigation had not been ordered into the second officer for complicity and another who the lawyers accused of lying in statements about the shooting, per the New York Times.

French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Wednesday that "nothing justifies the death of a young person."

• "We have a teenager who has been killed. It's inexplicable, unforgivable," he added.
• In a tweet on Thursday, Macron urged calm, saying the "violence against police stations, schools, town halls, against the Republic, is unjustifiable."

The big picture: This week's unrest echoes three weeks of protests and riots that erupted in France following the 2005 deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traoré and 17-year-old Zyed Benna, who were electrocuted after hiding in a power substation as police chased them. Two officers involved were cleared of any wrongdoing 10 years later.

• Activists and analysts say police often act with impunity and heavy-handed tactics are driven in part by embedded systemic racism in the police system and within France itself, particularly against Black and Arab people.
• At least three people this year have been killed by French police during traffic stops, per Reuters. A record 13 such killings happened in 2022. According to Reuters, the majority of people killed by police in traffic stops since 2017 were Black or of Arab origin.

"The situation for French people of Arab origin, for French Black people as well, has only gotten worse with regards to police violence," Crystal Fleming, a professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at Stony Brook University, told France24.

• She argued that while French politicians and officials decry police brutality in the U.S. and rightly call out racism in the country, they often refuse to do so when similar incidents happen in France.
• "I really wonder how many more people have to experience this level of brutality before there is an acknowledgment that systemic racism in France is real and needs to be addressed," she said.