Angry protest after Chinese man killed

CHINA urged France yesterday to protect its citizens in Paris after police there killed a Chinese father of four, sparking violent protests in which 35 people were arrested.

Paris police said about 150 members of the Asian community gathered late on Monday outside a police station in the northeast of the capital and clashes broke out.

Three officers were slightly injured in the confrontation and one police vehicle was damaged by an incendiary device.

The angry demonstrators were protesting after the Chinese man was shot dead by a police officer on Sunday night.

A police source said officers had been called to his house after reports of a domestic dispute.

He said the man attacked the officer with a knife as soon as the door opened, injuring him. A police colleague then opened fire, killing the Chinese man.

Lawyer Calvin Job said the family of the dead man totally disputed this version of events.

“He didn’t injure anyone,” Job said, adding that the man had been “trimming fish with a pair of scissors” when the police came to the door.

As tempers frayed between Paris and Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry said it had filed an official complaint to France over the events in the French capital.

Beijing called on Paris to guarantee the safety and legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens in France and to treat the reaction of Chinese people to this incident in a rational way, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

“Meanwhile, we hope that our citizens in France can express their wishes and demands in a lawful and reasonable way,” she said.

The man’s family insists that there was no domestic dispute and a neighbour had called the police after hearing shouting.

“Police forced open the door of the apartment, pushing him back,” Job said. The man did not rush towards the officers, and the police shot without warning, he said.

A police watchdog was due to interview the family late yesterday.

Estimates put the size of the Chinese community in Paris at between 200 000 and 300 000.

Many of the first-generation Chinese nationals who live in the French capital came here in the 1980s and many work in the textile industry.

French police have come under fire for suspected violence in recent months following the highly publicised case of a black youth worker, 22, allegedly sodomised with a police baton.

Several demonstrations have been staged since the February 2 incident. – AFP