Policeman charged over killing as Nantes riots flare
RIOTING over the killing of a young black man by police erupted for the fourth consecutive night in the western French city of Nantes early yesterday morning despite an officer being charged with manslaughter.
Groups of youths torched vehicles and hurled petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas.
A building was set alight but firefighters quickly brought the blaze under control. The clashes, which broke out after midnight, ended around dawn.
The unrest exposed tensions in deprived urban areas of France, where minorities complain of heavy-handed policing, and raised fears that clashes could spread.
The policeman who shot Aboubakar Fofana, 22, was charged on Friday night after abandoning his claim that he fired because the man was reversing at high speed towards a group of police and children.
Laurent-Franck Lienard, the officer’s lawyer, said: “He recognises that he made a statement that did not conform with the truth.”
After 24 hours of questioning, the policeman, who has not been named, told investigators that his gun went off “accidentally” as he struggled with Fofana, who was at the wheel of his car. The officer, who has been released on bail, was described as “devastated” and “in a state of shock” after the death.
Five of his colleagues had backed his earlier version of events, which was challenged by witnesses.
Pierre Sennès, Nantes prosecutor, said an arrest warrant for Fofana had been issued last year. He was suspected of “theft in an organised gang, handling stolen goods and criminal association”.
Since Fofana’s death on Tuesday, rioting has hit several areas of Nantes. Shops and public buildings have been ransacked or damaged and dozens of vehicles have been burned.