Written by Michael Thervil
If you don’t know anything about the French, you need to know the following: it is home to what is known as the French Revolution, and it is the birthplace of the academic subject known as Sociology. It has been said that the French Government has learned from its past mistakes in terms of them neglecting the wellbeing of its people – or has it? As of recently, there was a 17-year-old [Nahel M.] Who was shot by Police in France during a traffic stop and now the people of France are rioting against the Police and French President Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron also known as President Macron for his handling of the situation.
Please keep in mind that Police shootings in France are rare as there are only five reasons as to why and when a French Police Officer can fire their firearms. Under French law which will not adhere to the English System of Law a French Police Officer can use deadly force when:
· When a place or people under their protection comes under attack.
· When their life or physical safety, or the life of another individual, is put at risk.
· If there is reason to believe it will prevent murder or attempted murder.
· When they are unable to prevent someone likely to threaten their life or physical safety, or other people's, from fleeing.
And in the case in question concerning Nahel M.;
· When they are unable to stop a vehicle, whose driver has ignored an order to stop and whose occupants are likely to pose a risk to their life or physical safety, or to other people’s.
Please keep in mind that French Police can stop a vehicle or person without what is known in the United States as “Probable Cause” or “Reasonable Suspicion”.
With that being said, it was reported that the Police Officer who shot and killed 17-year-old Nahel M. Was fulfilling his duty to “protect life” as the teenager was ordered by French Police to stop his vehicle. It was at that time, that the teenager failed to stop at the request of the officer and was perceived to be a danger to himself and possibly others – and thus the requirements for the Police Officer to use deadly force was fulfilled and the shooting became justified under French Law.
However, the citizens of France seem to think otherwise. For them, it was the senseless taking of a young life by the hands of Police. In addition to that, the French Citizens felt as if, French president macron seemed uninterested in providing the people of France any kind of empathy for their public loss and they also feel as if president macron failed to do his due diligence in at least confronting the Police Officer who was involved in the shooting. The number of French Police having to shoot suspects are extremely lower than that of the United States where deadly force used by American Police has resulted in 424 deaths to date in2023 alone when Compared to French Police shootings; there are less than 40 this year.
The uptick in Police shootings in France are due to Police encountering French Citizens that are constructing Molotov cocktail bombs and undertaking other extreme measures against French Police which are leading to Police Officers being hospitalized and even killed in the line of duty. In the case of Nahel M. Who was the 6th person to be shot and killed under these circumstances, the people of France not only seem to have had enough but they are perceiving that these Police shootings are racially motivated. To them, it seems that Blacks and Arabs are being targeted.
As far as the Police Officer in question, it was reported that the Police Officer in question operated under the guise of the law and did not in fact violate any legal protocols in his use of deadly force.
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