The French policeman who killed the young man, “Nael”, apologizes to his family
On Thursday, a French policeman apologized to the family of the boy, Nael, who shot him on Tuesday during a traffic control operation on the outskirts of Paris, according to his lawyer.
“The first word he said was sorry, and the last words he said were to apologize to the family,” lawyer Laurent-Franc Leignard said on French BFMTV.
He added, “My client was deeply shocked by the violence of this video… which he saw for the first time while he was in police custody,” referring to the pictures that show him firing a bullet that caused the death of 17-year-old Nael, after he refused to obey and stop the car he was driving.
“He is devastated. He does not wake up in the morning to kill people… He does not want to be killed,” the lawyer added, according to what was reported by the French Press Agency.
The policeman was charged with premeditated murder and remanded in custody on Thursday. Leynar announced that he would appeal the decision on Friday morning.
In turn, Nael’s mother, Thursday, expressed her belief that the incident had racist motives.
“I don’t blame the police, I blame one person: the person who killed my son,” Monia told France 5, in her first media interview since the shooting, on Tuesday morning. “I have friends who are cops… they support me completely… they don’t agree with what happened,” she added.
She considered that the 38-year-old policeman, who was charged with premeditated murder, could have resorted to other methods to control her son, who was driving a car without a license.
“He didn’t have to kill my son,” said the single mother, weeping. “A bullet? From this distance from his chest? No no”. And she considered that the policeman “saw an Arab face, a little boy, and wanted to kill him.”
The mother, who said she works in the medical sector, asked, “How long will this continue?” How many more children will be killed like this? How many mothers would find themselves in my place?
French policemen stand near a burning car during the clashes (Reuters)
Paris seeks to stifle the protest movement, which is accompanied by riots, which erupted in protest of the killing of Nael. In the past two nights, the city of Nanterre, located at the western entrance to Paris, where the incident took place, witnessed riots, clashes, burning cars and blocking roads, before spreading to the other suburbs of the capital and to major cities, including Lyon, Toulouse, Lille and Dijon.
Gerald Dramanan, Minister of the Interior, reported that from Wednesday to Thursday, 150 people were arrested in different parts of the country, and that dozens of them were taken before the court for immediate appearance.
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2023-06-30 23:54:45
