Police violence pinned down by the US press

The muscular interventions of the French police were pinned down by the American press. The New York Times evokes in this regard a “police violence” which ignites anger in the suburbs in France.

The death of a 17-year-old boy, killed by a police officer in the Parisian suburbs, “ignited long-simmering anger in the suburbs where relations between the police and the inhabitants are often marked by mistrust”, writes Wednesday the prestigious American daily newspaper.

The tragedy “ignited a night of violence and reignited a long-running debate about the country’s security services’ use of lethal force,” the publication added.

Protesters burned cars and clashed with riot officers in the Paris suburbs following the boy’s death, the US newspaper said.

Initial reports, based on police sources, suggested the driver hit two police officers with his car on Tuesday in Nanterre, west of the capital, the daily reports.

However, continues the great American circulation, a video published later shows two police officers checking a car. One of them, leaning on the windshield, holds the driver at gunpoint and shoots at point-blank range from the side of the vehicle when the driver drives off.

This video led to accusations that the police had acted too aggressively, and prosecutors in Nanterre have opened a manslaughter investigation, the American newspaper reports.

The family of the young boy indicated that they would file a complaint, accusing the policeman of murder.

This drama is attracting attention throughout France, including that of celebrities, writes the New York Times.

Actor Omar Sy and footballer Kylian Mbappé have both expressed their support for the boy’s family on social media.

“I hurt my France,” Mbappé wrote on Twitter, calling the incident an “unacceptable situation.”