France burns for second day after cops shoot dead African teen

Riots broke out in France after the police shot an African teenage boy, Nahel M, at point-blank range. Nahel's mother called for a march on Thursday, June 29 afternoon in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where he was killed. The march was a tribute to her only child killed in an act of violence. 

Nahel was pulled over for breaking traffic rules. Police initially reported that an officer had shot the teenager because he was driving at him, but this was contradicted by a video circulating on social media. The footage showed the two policemen standing by the side of the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver. One of them said, "You are going to get a bullet in the head."

The police officer then fired at the victim from point-blank range. 

Following the incident, unrest erupted in the French cities of Toulouse, Dijon and Lyon. Nearly 2,000 riot police had been deployed to these regions. 

Graffiti sprayed on the walls of buildings called for "justice for "Nahel" and said, "police kill".

In an interaction with AFP, two young men calling themselves "avengers" said, "We are sick of being treated like this. This is for Nahel, we are Nahel." 

The French security forces have arrested nearly 150 people in the violent riots that erupted in different cities of France. The balaclava-clad protesters burned cars and set off fireworks in a show of protest against the killing of the teenage African boy by the police.

In a sign of the seriousness of the situation, French President Emmanuel Macron called an early morning crisis meeting of his ministers on Thursday, June 29 to discuss the matter at hand.

The killing of the African teen has reignited the debate in France about police tactics which have for long been criticised by rights groups over the treatment of people in low-income suburbs, particularly ethnic minorities.