Early on Saturday afternoon, the procession set off from near the 17-year-old’s home, heading towards Place Nelson-Mandela, where he was shot dead by a police officer during a stop

On Saturday, several hundred people gathered in Nanterre to honour the memory of Nahel, a 17-year-old whose death during a police stop a year ago sparked riots across the country.

Led by Nahel’s mother and relatives, the procession set off in the early afternoon from the Esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle, near the Pablo-Picasso district where the teenager lived, to the Place Nelson-Mandela where he died. Many young people, wearing white T-shirts bearing the message “Justice for Nahel, executed on 27/06/2023”, followed in silence.

“We’re here to support his mother,” explained Fatou, 16, who was there with her friends.

A video challenges the police version
On 27 June 2023, Nahel was shot by a motorbike police officer while driving his vehicle. According to the investigation, Nahel’s car had been stopped after a pursuit.

The police’s initial version, claiming that Nahel had tried to ram the motorcyclist, was quickly contradicted by an amateur video posted on social networks. The video shows police officers standing next to the vehicle, guns drawn. One of the police officers fires when the vehicle starts up again, and it then crashes into a concrete block a few metres away.

The police officers claimed that they were in mortal danger, trapped between the car and a wall.

Shooter released in November
Florian M., the police officer who fired the shot, aged 38 at the time, was charged with murder and imprisoned for five months. He was released and placed under judicial supervision in November after several requests from his lawyer.

On 5 May, a reconstruction of the events took place. The lawyers, the police officer who fired the shot, his colleague and several witnesses were confronted to determine whether Florian M. was indeed in mortal danger.

One year on, Nahel’s mother testifies: “I died inside”.
Nahel’s death sparked riots of exceptional intensity in France, with public buildings attacked, schools and courts set on fire, and shops looted. A Senate report estimates the damage caused by these riots, which were more intense but shorter-lived than those of 2005, at one billion euros.