Grandmother of teen killed by police officer in France pleads for halt to rioting

Paris, July 3

The grandmother of a teenager shot dead during a police traffic stop in a Paris suburb pleaded for the rioting to stop on the sixth straight night of unrest, while authorities expressed outrage over the targeting of a mayor’s home with a burning car as his family was sleeping.

The grandmother of the 17-year-old, known publicly by his first name, Nahel, said in a telephone interview with French news broadcaster BFM TV, “Don’t break windows, buses … schools. We want to calm things down.”

“I’m telling them [the rioters] to stop,” said the grandmother, who was identified only as Nadia and spoke a day after the teen’s funeral, CBC News reported.

“Nahel is dead. My daughter is lost … she doesn’t have a life anymore.”

Protests have erupted across France since the teen, who was reportedly of north African descent, was shot on Tuesday in the chest while driving away from a traffic stop in Nanterre, a working-class suburb 15 km from central Paris, CBC News reported.

Nahel’s grandmother said she was angry at the officer who killed her grandson, but not at police in general, and expressed faith in the justice system as France faces its worst social upheaval in years.

The officer accused of killing Nahel was given a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide.

Thirteen people who didn’t comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by French police last year, and three this year, prompting demands for more accountability.