Clashes after French police shoot man

Groups of French youths have clashed with police in the western French city of Nantes after a 22-yearold man was shot dead by an officer during a police check.

Cars were torched and a shopping centre was set alight in the Breil neighbourhood as police confronted young people, some armed with molotov cocktails, AFP reported. AFP said the circumstances in which the man was killed were being investigated by the police.

Local police chief Jean-Christophe Bertrand said the incident happened when police stopped a vehicle over an infraction.

The identity of the driver was “not clear and officers received orders to bring the driver to the police station”, AFP reported Bertrand as saying.

He said the driver then hit and slightly injured a police officer.

“One of his colleagues then fired, hitting the young man who unfortunately died,” Bertrand was quoted as saying.

Police sources said the victim was wounded during a police check while in a vehicle after he “refused to comply” with police requests.

He was hit in the carotid artery and declared dead on arrival at hospital, the police sources told AFP.

National police were investigating to clarify “the facts and determine in what circumstances the policeman used his weapon”, Pierre Sennes, the public prosecutor for Nantes, was quoted as saying.

Eyewitnesses to yesterday’s clashes reported hearing explosions.

Steven, 24, who lives in the area, told an AFP journalist that he “heard explosions” and “saw everything burning”. “There were fires in the bins, the cars. They were breaking everything. It lasted ages,” he said.

Police reinforcements were expected in Nantes, especially in the Breil neighbourhood.