In the city centre of Marseille, a library was vandalised, according to local officials, and scuffles broke out nearby when police used tear gas to disperse a group of 100 to 150 people who allegedly tried to set up barricades.
Multiple public buildings were also targeted in Seine-Saint-Denis, in the Paris metro area, according to a police source.
In Nanterre, the epicentre of the unrest, tensions rose around midnight, with fireworks set off in the Pablo Picasso district, where Nahel had lived, according to an AFP journalist.
President Emmanuel Macron has called for calm and said the protest violence was “unjustifiable”.
The riots are a fresh challenge for Macron, who had been looking to move past some of the biggest demonstrations in a generation sparked by a controversial rise in the retirement age.
“BULLET IN THE HEAD”
Nahel was killed as he pulled away from police who were trying to stop him for a traffic infraction.
A video, authenticated by AFP, showed two police officers standing by the side of the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver.
A voice is heard saying: “You are going to get a bullet in the head.”
The police officer then appears to fire as the car abruptly drives off.
Clashes first erupted as the video emerged, contradicting police accounts that the teenager was driving at the officer.
The officer’s lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, told BFMTV late Thursday that his client had apologised as he was taken into custody.
“The first words he pronounced were to say sorry, and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Nanterre public prosecutor Pascal Prache had said: “The prosecution considers that the legal conditions for the use of the weapon” by the police officer who fired the shot “are not met”.
“INGREDIENTS FOR AN EXPLOSION”
The government is desperate to avoid a repeat of 2005 urban riots, sparked by the death of two boys of African origin in a police chase, during which 6,000 people were arrested.
“There are all the ingredients for another explosion potentially,” one government adviser told AFP on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
The head of the right-wing Republicans, Eric Ciotti, called for a state of emergency, which would allow local authorities to create no-go areas, but a government source told AFP that option was not currently on the table.
Concern about the police using their weapons to stop drivers who refused to stop for traffic checks has been growing.
Last year, 13 people were killed after refusing to stop for police traffic checks, with a law change in 2017 that gave officers greater powers to use their weapons now under scrutiny.
“What I see on this video is the execution by police of a 17-year-old kid, in France, in 2023, in broad daylight,” said Greens party leader Marine Tondelier.
For all the latest world News Click Here
