Calls for calm after French police killing sparks riots
The French government called for calm Wednesday after the killing of a 22-year-old man by police sparked riots in the western city of Nantes, highlighting the simmering tensions between youths and security forces in deprived urban areas.
Rioters set fire to cars and a medical center in the city on Tuesday night after news spread that an officer had shot dead the 22-year-old, named by local newspaper Ouest France as Bubakar, after stopping his car over an infraction.
Youths clashed with police in the northwestern neighborhood of Breil where the killing took place, lobbing molotov cocktails, before the unrest spread to two other poorer districts with a history of gang violence.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb condemned the violence, adding that “all the necessary resources are being mobilized” to “calm the situation and prevent any further incidents.”
Local police chief Jean-Christophe Bertrand said the youth had hit a policeman with his car, lightly injuring him, after a squad stopped the vehicle at around 8:30 pm for an alleged infraction and tried to take him to the police station for identification.
He was hit in the carotid artery and declared dead on arrival at hospital, police sources said.
Judicial police and a national watchdog which investigates claims of police wrongdoing are investigating to clarify “the facts and determine in what circumstances the policeman used his weapon,” said Pierre Sennes, public prosecutor for Nantes.