Angry at the French Police Who Carried Out the Shooting, Nahel Merzouk's Grandmother: She Took My Grandson

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

JAKARTA - Nadia, the grandmother of a 17-year-old teenager who was killed by a shooting by the French police, Nahel Merzouk, expressed her anger at the French police, condemning the fatal shooting that perpetrated on her grandson.

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.

"I am angry at the two policemen, because there were two of them, who hit my grandson's head with two rifle butts, and at the police who shot him directly in the heart, he could have shot him in the leg or in the arm," said Nadioa when interviewed on BFMTV, as reported by Euronews, July 3.

"In this case, it was his life that they took," he said.

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.

"My heart hurts. He has taken my grandson from me. This person has to pay, like everyone else. Those who break the law and beat the police will also be punished. I believe in justice. I believe in justice," explained Nadia.

The 38-year-old police officer who fired the fatal shot was charged with intentional homicide and jailed last Thursday.

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 burned 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.