NANTERRE, France (AP) — A year after a French teenager of North African descent was killed by police — a shooting that caused shock and days of riots across France — his mother is leading a silent march on Saturday to honor her son.
It comes at a politically charged time. Hate speech ruining the campaign for early parliamentary elections this weekend, an anti-immigration party that wants to increase the power of police to use their weapons, and has historical ties to racism and anti-Semitism, is leading in the polls.
Relatives and friends gather in the Paris suburb of Nanterre to remember 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, who was shot dead at close range by a police officer during a traffic stop on June 27, 2023. Within hours of his death, Merzouk, a delivery boy from a working-class neighborhood, became a symbol. For many in France, he was the embodiment of young French black and North African men who, research shows, being confronted with police checks and discrimination more often than their white counterparts.
“United in our search for justice and truth. Nahel will not be forgotten. The fight will resonate in our steps and voices,” Nahel’s family members said in an Instagram post. Only his mother Mounia and close friends are expected to speak publicly at the march, and they want to avoid any politics or tensions the day before. French parliamentary elections.
French voters will cast their ballots on Sunday in the first round of snap elections for the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, in a vote that could result in the country’s first far-right government since the Nazi occupation during World War II.
French opinion polls suggest that the National Rally party could dominate the next parliament and win the prime minister’s job after the July 7 runoff. In that scenario, centrist President Emmanuel Macron would retain the presidency until 2027, but in a greatly weakened role.
“This march, taking place now, is a powerful symbol,” said Assa Traore, who has been fighting for justice since her brother Adama died in French police custody in 2016.
“It means that history cannot write itself without us. We, from the working-class neighborhoods, are the victims of these elections. We realized early on that the Rassemblement National and far-right parties were a danger to our country and would weaken it,” said the 39-year-old with Malian roots who will march with Merzouk’s family.
Merzouk’s death, which was captured on video, fueled long-standing tensions between police and youth in housing projects and deprived suburbs, many of whom are French-born youth with immigrant family backgrounds. Fueled by TikTok, the riots spread at unprecedented speed before the police intervened en masse. According to French authorities, the unrest caused more than $1 billion in damage.
The officer who fired the shot cited self-defense, and a far-right figure started one crowdfunding campaign for the police officer that raised $1.6 million before closing.
Citing security concerns, particularly in housing developments and other impoverished areas in French suburbs or ‘banlieues’, the far-right National Rally wants to give the police a specific new legal status. If police officers use their weapons during an intervention, they are presumed to have acted in self-defense. Currently, police officers have the same legal status as all French citizens and must prove that they acted in self-defense.
Meanwhile, the left-wing New Popular Front coalition wants to ban the use of some police weapons and dismantle a notoriously tough police unit.
“People are afraid of the victory of the National Rally. But we, people from working-class neighborhoods, are afraid every day that our sons, brothers or husbands will be killed. Racism and racial profiling are our daily lives,” Traore said.
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Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
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