Grandmother of French Police Shooting Victims Calls for an End to Street Violence

Riots due to Nahel's shooting. (Wikimedia Commons/Toufic-de-Planoise)

JAKARTA - Nadia, the grandmother of the 17-year-old boy who was killed by the shooting by French policeman Nahel Merzouk, called for an end to street violence in the country on Sunday evening, as the rioting entered its fifth day since the shooting in Nanterre last Tuesday.

"I said to people breaking things, stop. Don't break windows, don't destroy schools, don't destroy buses. Stop, there are mothers on the bus, there are mothers on the streets," Nadia urged when interviewed on BFMTV, as cited from Euronews, July 3.

"We want these young people to be left alone. Nahel is dead. My daughter only had one child, she is gone, it's over, my daughter has no life left. And they made me lose my daughter and grandson," he continued.

Nahel died last Tuesday near the Nanterre-Préfecture RER station, during a police check carried out by two police motorbike riders in the rental car he was driving.

One of the officers opened fire on the young man at close range, fatally wounding him in the chest.

The shooter justified his actions, judging that Nahel refused to comply with his request. However, an amateur video contradicts his confession, shocking the government and sparking the worst riots France has seen in years.

Nahel was buried Saturday in the Mont-Valérien cemetery in Nanterre in the presence of her mother and grandmother and several hundred other people.

In the aftermath of the shooting, young people living in working-class neighborhoods across France vent their anger on the police and the state every night, clashing with the police, ransacking public buildings, and looting shops.

About 45.000 police were deployed again late Sunday, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmnin, to prevent rioters who had torched cars, looted shops, and targeted city hall and police stations, including the mayor's house in a suburb of Paris, which was attacked when his wife and children were asleep in the house.

French President Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to Germany to deal with the crisis. He is scheduled to meet with parliamentary leaders on Monday and with more than 220 mayors from cities affected by the unrest on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry reported 719 arrests following Nahel's funeral on Saturday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, down from 1.311 on Friday evening and 875 on Thursday evening.

But officials warned that it was too early to say the unrest was over.

"There was less damage, but we will keep moving in the next few days. We are very focused, no one is claiming victory," said Paris police chief Laurent Nunez.