Police under fire for killing Chinese man

France: Daughter disputes account of fatal shooting as riots break out

The daughter of a Chinese man killed in a police raid in Paris says her father “never had a chance” against the officers who broke down their door and shot him.

The death of Shaoyo Liu, 56, on Sunday has led to riots in the northern neighbourhood that is home to many of the French capital’s Chinese immigrants.

Police sayMr Liu tried to stab an officer, who fired in self- defence. Mr Liu’s daughter disputed this account, saying she heard a loud knocking that quickly turned to forceful banging before police burst in and knocked down her father.

She says he was holding kitchen scissors because he was cooking at the time, but had no plan to harm the officers.

“My father was really trying to hold back the door and then the door opened all of a sudden. A shot was fired. All of this happened in just a few seconds.”

Police said Mr Liu tried to attack an officer with the scissors. Four of Mr Liu’s five children were in the flat at the time, andshe said they were kept for hours in the flat but away from their father’s body.

Calvin Job, lawyer for the family, saidMr Liu“wasnot someone undergoing psychiatric treatment, hewasn’t an alcoholic, there was no history of family violence,” and they do not know who called authorities. Protesters and baton-wielding police clashed for several hours on Monday night.

China urged French officials to “get to the bottomof the incident as soon as possible”. France is home to Europe’s largest population of ethnic Chinese, a community that routinely accuses police of not doing enough to protect them.

“Chinese people do not like to protest or express themselves publicly, so when we see them like this it means they are very angry,” said Pierre Picquart, Chinese expert at the University of Paris VIII.