NANTERRE, France (AP) — A year after a French teenager of North African origin was killed by police – a shooting that sparked shock and days of riots across France – his mother leads a silent march on Saturday to pay tribute to her son.
It comes at a politically tense moment. Hate speech is ruining the campaign for early parliamentary elections this weekend, and an anti-immigration party that wants to increase police powers to use their weapons and has historical links to racism and anti-Semitism is leading the polls.
Family and friends are gathering in the Paris suburb of Nanterre to remember 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, who was shot dead at close range by a police officer during a traffic check on June 27, 2023. Just hours after his death, Merzouk, a delivery driver from a working-class neighborhood, became a symbol. To many across France, he was the personification of young black French and North African men who, according to studies, face police controls and discrimination more often than their white counterparts.
“United in our search for justice and truth. Nahel will not be forgotten. The struggle will resonate through our steps and voices,” Nahel’s relatives said in an Instagram post. Only his mother, Mounia, and his closest friends are expected to speak publicly during the march, and they want to avoid any politicking or tension on the day. previous. French parliamentary elections.
On Sunday, French voters will vote in the first round of early elections for the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, which could lead to the country’s first far-right government since the Nazi occupation in World War II.
French opinion polls suggest that the National Rally party could dominate the next parliament after the second round on July 7 and win the position of prime minister. In this scenario, centrist President Emmanuel Macron would maintain the presidency until 2027, but in a strongly weakened paper.
“This march, which is happening now, is a powerful symbol,” said Assa Traore, who has been fighting for justice since her brother Adama died in French police custody in 2016.
“This means that history cannot write itself without us. We, from popular neighborhoods, are the direct victims of these elections. We realized from the beginning that the National Rally and the far-right parties were a danger to our country and will weaken it,” said the 39-year-old with Malian roots who will march alongside Merzouk’s family.
Merzouk’s death, which was captured on video, has sparked long-running tensions between police and young people in deprived housing estates and suburbs, many of whom are French-born young people with immigrant family backgrounds. Fueled by TikTok, the riots spread with unprecedented speed before a mass police crackdown. The unrest caused, according to French authorities, more than a billion dollars in damage.
The police officer who fired the shot claimed self-defense, and a far-right figure began an crowdfunding campaign for the cop who withdrew $1.6 million before being fired.
Citing security concerns, particularly in housing estates and other impoverished areas in French suburbs or “banlieues”, the far-right National Rally intends to give a specific new legal status to the police. If police officers use weapons during an intervention, it will be presumed that they acted in self-defense. Currently, police officers have the same legal status as all French citizens and must prove that they acted in self-defense.
The left-wing coalition Nova Frente Popular, in turn, wants to ban the use of some police weapons and dismantle a notoriously tough police unit.
“People fear the victory of the National Rally. But we, people in working-class neighborhoods, are afraid every day that our sons, brothers or husbands will be killed. Racism and racial profiling are our daily lives,” Traore said.
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Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
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