'Here For Nahel': Protesters Clash With Police After Fatal Shooting Of Teen

Nanterre, France, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Jun, 2023 ) :Shouting "death to the cops", hundreds of protesters once again clashed overnight with security forces on the outskirts of Paris after a 17-year-old was shot dead by police during a traffic stop.

Before sunset on Wednesday it had seemed like calm was returning to Nanterre, the western suburb where the teen, identified as Nahel M., was shot in the chest at point-blank range.

The previous night's clashes between protesters and riot police were replaced by daytime scenes of families observing Eid-el-Kebir.

But by dusk, young demonstrators dressed in black, their faces covered by balaclavas and scarves, gathered for another round of confrontations.

The scuffles first broke out on the western end of town in Vieux-Pont, where at least two cars were torched.

But the heart of the clashes was in the Pablo-Picasso district, in a series of winding alleys around the 1970s "Tours Nuage" housing project.

Demonstrators kept fires raging with a steady stream of garbage bins and furniture dragged into the road, leaving the air thick with a choking plume of black smoke.

Well-organised groups of protesters crisscrossed the neighbourhood on scooters with obscured licence plates, on the lookout for police.

On Avenue Pablo-Picasso, the main artery running through the neighbourhood, security forces attempted to cordon off the street.

As soon as the authorities withdrew, several hundred demonstrators quickly descended, putting up makeshift barricades and setting two more cars on fire, adding to the charred remains of at least seven already-smouldering vehicles.

"They're retreating! Let's go guys, we're moving forward," someone in the group could be heard shouting.

- 'We're here for Nahel' - Residents emerged from their homes to watch the protesters and film them on their cellphones, but photographers and video journalists were not welcome.

Protesters insisted that AFP journalists with cameras leave the area.

Print journalists, however, were tolerated if they produced press cards.

"You're just passing through, we are here all year round," one young man taunted reporters, before adding: "Tonight, we're here for Nahel." On a nearby wall, recently sprayed graffiti read "A good cop is a dead cop". Another said "Justice for Nahel".

Politicians are desperately trying to bring down the temperature as protests take hold across the country, with similar clashes erupting in Toulouse, Lyon, Dijon and elsewhere.

On Thursday morning, France's interior minister said 150 people had been arrested, compared to 31 the night before.

In Nanterre, the protests seemed far from abating as smoke billowed over freeways and fireworks exploded over towering apartment blocks.

All through the night, fire trucks and law enforcement vehicles raced around, sirens blaring.