France braces for more protests as Macron calls shooting of teen by police as 'unforgivable'

France braced itself for more violent protests on Wednesday as French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said that the deadly shooting of a teen by the police during a traffic stop this week was "inexplicable" and "unforgivable".

"A teenager was killed. That is inexplicable and unforgivable. Nothing can justify the death of a young person," said Macron, during a visit to the Mediterranean city Marseille, stating that the case had "moved the entire nation" and expressing "respect and affection" for the grieving family members of the 17-year-old Nael.

The government stated that 2,000 riot police will be deployed by them to deal with any unrest. The step has been taken a day after a 17-year-old was shot in the chest by a police officer who was then seen lying about the circumstances of the killing.

Unrest already sparked in various suburbs of Paris overnight after the shooting. Outrage and grief were expressed by the celebrities and politicians at the teenager's death.

Two policemen on Tuesday had pulled over the teenager, who was identified as Nael M., for breaking traffic rules, said prosecutors.

Initially, the police had reported that the teenager was shot by an officer after he tried to drive his car at him, however, the video of the incident shared on social media contradicted the claims.

Reality of the footage

In the footage, two policemen were seen standing at the side of a stationary car and one officer was seen pointing the gun at the driver. A person was heard as saying, "You are going to get a bullet in the head."

The officer has then seen firing point blank as the teenager's car drove off abruptly. The car drove a few dozen metres and then crashed and the driver died after some time.

The suburb of Paris was hit by immediate protests after the death of the teenager. The protesters set fire to a music school and bins as tear gas was used by the police to disperse the crowd.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Wednesday said that the police arrested 31 people overnight, while 24 police officers suffered slight injuries and nearly 40 cars were torched.

WATCH |Protests and violence in France as police kills a driver in Nanterre

Darmanin added that they have deployed 2,000 police to deal with any escalation of violence.

Mother calls for tributemarch as'revolt for my son'

Government spokesman Olivier Veran said that the president expressed "emotion" at the incident and appealed for "calm" on behalf of the government.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tweeted that she hoped that "our absolute demand for the truth will allow calm to prevail over anger".

The mother of Nael M shared a video on the TikTok platform in which she called people for a tribute march for her son on Thursday. "This is a revolt for my son," she stated.

(With inputs from agencies)

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