A French policeman, charged with homicide over the killing of a teenager near Paris on Tuesday, has apologised to his family while in custody. His lawyer Laurent-Franck Liénard said the cop was “devastated” and “doesn't get up in the morning to kill people”, the BBC reported. Anger continues to spark violence across the country as a march led by the boy’s mother was marred by clashes on Thursday afternoon.
“The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family,” the lawyer said, as quoted by the BBC.
He further said the officer charged with voluntary homicide was “shocked by the violence of this video”.
The 17-year-old North African origin boy, named Nahel M, was shot at point-blank range after he refused a traffic stop and drove away, but crashed soon afterwards. According to a report by news agency Reuters, the incident has fed into a deep-rooted perception of police brutality in the ethnically diverse suburbs of France’s biggest cities.
According to BBC’s report, protesters were arrested in Lille and Marseille in a third night of unrest.
In the working-class Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the teenager was killed, a huge fire broke out on the ground floor of a building where a bank is located.
Visuals on social media also appear to show piles of rubbish ablaze in several places.
The report stated that bus and tram services in Paris and the wider region were halted at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) in anticipation of further violence. Some suburbs declared night-time curfews.
Paris Teen Death Violence: 40,000 Police Deployed Across France
Around 40,000 police have been deployed across France in order to deal with the unrest, after cars and buildings were damaged in rioting in several French cities on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said 170 officers were injured in Wednesday night’s clashes alone and 180 people were arrested, as per the report.
Meanwhile, thousands of people attended a march demanding justice for Nahel M on Thursday. Officers were also injured on Thursday afternoon during violence in Nanterre that followed a peaceful march led by the deceased teenager’s mother who said she did not blame the police in general, or the system, just the official who shot at her son, the BBC reported.
The march was attended by more than 6,000 people.
French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne said she understood the outpouring of emotion following the 17-year-old’s death, but condemned the riots.
“Nothing justifies the violence that’s occurred,” she said, as quoted by the report.
Meanwhile, the officer accused of killing Nahel M said he had fired as he felt his life was in danger. His lawyer told French radio station RTL that the policeman discharged his firearm “in full compliance of the law”.