Clashes between the residents of French banlieues – the suburbs – and the police are not rare and happen more often than the authorities would like.
In 2016, in a Paris housing estate, a male officer suffered serious burns and was put in an induced coma after a group of youths pelted petrol bombs at his patrol car.
Police unions protested and demanded a strong response from the government. Following that incident, the law on the use of firearms by police was amended in 2017.
It came in a context of a high terror threat after terror attacks were carried out in Paris and Nice.
Under the amended law, officers were allowed to shoot when faced with one of five situations – one being when a driver ignores an order to stop, and is likely to pose a risk to the life or physical safety of other people.
Critics say that this amendment – on the basis of which the teen Nahel M was shot and killed – makes the law much too vague, as it leaves an officer to determine whether the driver’s refusal to comply poses a risk.
The law has also been linked to the deaths of 13 people killed by French police after traffic stops in 2022.
But Bernard Cazeneuve, the former interior minister who approved the law, has defended the legislation, saying “it does not at all give officers permission to shoot whenever”.
