Who was Nahel M., the young man whose death at the hands of the police has set France on fire

taketonews

France has been in shock since last Tuesday, when a police officer shot dead at point-blank range Nahel M., a 17-year-old boy in his car during a police check in Nanterre, a city located northwest of the Paris region. Since then, the country has been plunged into a wave of indignation that has resulted in riots in the streets of the main French cities that threaten to lead to a new social crisis.

Nahel, who will be buried this Saturday, is remembered by those close to him as a “quiet boy” sometimes “I was going to the limit” but that he was not very different from so many other young people from the periphery. “Nahel was a quiet boy. He committed violations, yes, but in what world is that an excuse to kill him? We already know what 17-year-olds are like,” Saliha, a 65-year-old resident of Nanterre, told AFP.

The young man has established himself as a symbol. “Nahel is the son of all of us“, said participants in a tribute march that ended in violent clashes with security forces on Thursday.

Raised by his mother, Mournia, in Nanterre, he was a big fan of rap and motorcycles. “For me it was everything (…). He was my best friend,” said this devastated woman, who refused to blame the entire police force for the death of her son. Nahel was also very close to his maternal grandmother.

“A Neighborhood Boy”

As explained by the family lawyer, the young man worked as a delivery man. He had started an “insertion program” with the Ovale Citoyen association, which uses sport to support young people, and had joined the Nanterre rugby club.

He had no criminal record, but had had some brushes with the police for events similar to the one that ended up causing his death, according to the Nanterre prosecutor. He had to appear for that reason in September before a juvenile court.

“For me, Nahel was the typical example of a neighborhood boy that he had dropped out of school, that he sometimes went to the limit but was not a thief, and that he had will to get ahead“, described Jeff Puech, the president of Ovale Citoyen, in the newspaper ‘Sud-Ouest’.

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“A new future was going to be built,” the association said on Twitter.

A month ago, Nahel fulfilled the dream of many young people. she appeared as extra in a video clip recorded in his city by a French rap star. In the video, he is seen making the characteristic gesture of Jul, the singer, who on his social networks shared a call to help Nahel’s family financially, the “little brother“.



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