Twelve arrested for rioting in France
TWELVE people were arrested after a second night of rioting in the western city of Nantes triggered by the deadly shooting of a young man during a stopand-search operation by police.
The killing of the 22-year-old, identified by local media as Aboubakar F, risks inflaming tensions in deprived urban areas in France where residents frequently complain of police brutality.
Rioters set fire to several dozen cars for a second night running on Wednesday and fought pitched battles with the police in the low-income district of Breil where Tuesday’s shooting took place and surrounding neighbourhoods.
Several public buildings, including a police station, were damaged and a dozen shops were torched, despite calls by the victim’s family for calm.
Eleven people were arrested in Breil and one person was arrested in the Paris suburb of Garges-les-Gonesse where Aboubakar F grew up.
The victim was under surveillance as part of a drug-trafficking investigation when he was stopped by police while driving at around 8:30pm.
The police said he was not carrying ID and that they attempted to arrest him.
Nantes prosecutor Pierre Sennes said that the driver then “apparently tried to escape the search by quickly reversing”.
Police sources said he reversed into one of the officers, prompting his partner to open fire – but a witness said the car was at a halt when the driver was hit in the neck by a single bullet.
A police oversight body is investigating the killing.
The driver had been wanted by police in Creteil, near Paris, for robbery and other offences.
On a visit to Nantes on Thursday, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe condemned the riots and promised “the fullest transparency” about the circumstance’s of the man’s death.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said “all the necessary resources” were being deployed to calm the situation.
A woman who filmed the incident, who wished to remain anonymous, said “there were no police behind the car, he didn’t hit anyone. There was only the one gunshot.”