Paris [France], June 30: Following the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old teen by a police officer, 150 arrests were made overnight in France during renewed rioting, authorities said on Thursday.
"A night of unbearable violence against symbols of the Republic: town halls, schools and police stations were set on fire or attacked," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter.
"150 arrests. Support for the policemen, gendarmes and firefighters who bravely went into action. Shame on those who did not call for calm," he said.
The unrest began on Tuesday evening after the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old boy in the Paris suburb Nanterre during a traffic stop. A motorbike patrol had stopped the youth at the wheel of a car.
A witness' mobile phone video of the incident, verified by the France Info channel, shows an officer pointing his gun into the driver's door of the stationary car. When the youth at the wheel suddenly drives off, the officer fires at close range, fatally wounding him.
Unrest spread to the Greater Paris region and several other French cities. Rioters set fire to vehicles and garbage cans during the night. Police officers and buildings were attacked with fireworks.
The officer involved in the shooting remains in police custody and is being investigated on suspicion of manslaughter.
On Thursday, a funeral march was planned in Nanterre to honour the memory of the killed youth.
French prosecutors have opened a formal investigation for manslaughter into a police officer accused of fatally shooting the teenager.
The officer is to be remanded in custody, the public prosecutor's office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre announced on Thursday.
According to the assessment so far by investigators, the legal requirements for the use of the weapon had not been met, the statement said. Video surveillance images, witnesses' videos and witness statements had made it possible to reconstruct the circumstances of the check, it said.
According to prosecutors, the 17-year-old had been driving at high speed in Nanterre on Tuesday morning with two passengers onboard the vehicle and had crossed a bus lane. A first attempt by two police officers on motorbikes to stop him at a traffic light failed.
The young man drove away on a red light and continued his escape on the pavement, the public prosecutor's office said.
When the officers caught up with him a little later and stopped him, they both pointed their weapons at the teenager at the level of the driver's door and demanded that he switch off the engine. When the suspect suddenly drove off, one officer fired a shot, the statement said.
The use of the weapon was not justified, the prosecutor said.
Meanwhile hundreds of people turned out for a memorial march in Nanterre on Thursday and demanded justice for the 17-year-old.
Many participants wore white T-shirts that said "Justice for Nahel" and signs that read "The police kill." The mother of the youth who was shot dead sat on the roof of a car at the centre of the march through the Paris suburbs. The move, organised on the initiative of the family, initially went peacefully, the mayor of the city had called for calm.
Source: Qatar Tribune