Nantes: calls for calm after the death of a young man killed by the police

The authorities called for calm on Wednesday and condemned the violence that shook parts of Nantes after the death Tuesday night of a 22-year-old man killed by a police officer during a check.

Projectiles from the windows of the buildings, young people chanting "badbadins, badbadins, shame on you, break you" at the pbadage of police and tear gas grenades: the situation was still tense Wednesday night in Nantes, without reaching the level of violence of the night before.

Police control where everything started at around 8:30 pm in the Breil district, in which reigned "a particular climate of tension" for a week after the strafing of a facade by armed men, said at a press conference Wednesday evening the prosecutor of Nantes, Pierre Sennès.

To the six CRS present, the man, from Garges-lès-Gonesse (Val d'Oise), given a false identity and the police invited him to follow them to verify his identity at the police station, he explained.

The driver then "sought to evade this control by operating at a brisk pace a reverse, in a move to escape, "he added, adding that the man was under an arrest warrant issued against him in June 2017 for" organized robbery, concealment and criminal conspiracy. "

A police officer then followed the vehicle before firing only once at the driver, hitting him on the neck, the prosecutor reported. According to sources close to the case, the driver allegedly tried to "flee by backing on a police officer", which did not confirm the prosecutor who refused to answer any question.

Touched to the carotid artery, the driver died at the hospital around 22H30. The SRPJ of Nantes and the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) were seized.

– "thorough investigation" –

"We are aware that this case is particularly serious," Sennès said. He promised the young man's family "a thorough investigation" which will include determining "whether the use of the weapon by the police was or was not legally founded."

A call for witnesses was launched by investigators and the IGPN and the PJ have already made "many auditions" Wednesday, according to the floor.

The relatives of the young man called for calm on Wednesday evening by the voice of their lawyer, before a white march scheduled Thursday at 18:00 in Nantes.

On Wednesday evening, a march gathering about 200 people took place from Garges-lès-Gonesse to the police station of Sarcelles, the neighboring town. There was "some tension on the spot", but "no notable abuses" except "a few throws of projectiles", told AFP a police source. The demonstration had been dispersed since 9.30 pm, the prefecture added.

Wednesday morning, in front of 68 rue des Plantes where the check took place, the wall of a house was completely smashed and remnants of grenades fired by the forces of order strewed the ground.

Questioned by AFP, the inhabitants questioned the version of self-defense initially given by the police. According to a woman who filmed the scene there was "no CRS behind the car, it did not crush anyone, there was only one shot." Another badures that he was "stationary" and "gave his papers".

– "inadmissible" –

"In all the districts of France, that's how it is: the facility for the police, it is to draw .It is inadmissible", coward a resident, the tears in the eyes , pulling a stroller.

Immediately after the events, in the Breil, the police were shot with projectiles and Molotov badtails. About thirty cars and twenty buildings and buildings, including an annex and two town halls were burned or degraded, according to the police. Calm returned around 3:00 pm

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe moves to Nantes on Thursday, where he will meet with Mayor (PS) Johanna Rolland about the situation in the neighborhoods of the city.

Secretary of the Interior, Gérard Collomb, condemned "with the greatest firmness" this violence while the Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet, also called "calm", as Nicole Klein, the prefect of Loire-Atlantique who said that a "consistent" law enforcement device was "set up 24H / 24H".

The IGPN had reported last week of a greater use of certain weapons by police officers, like the automatic pistol, putting forward for the first time the number of people killed during police interventions, ie 14 deaths recorded since July 2017.

asl-grd-aag-we-tll / gvy / jcc