Violent revolts spread in France after police kill teenager during traffic stop

France is experiencing an upsurge in anger following the death of Nal, a 17-year-old teenager.

He was shot and killed by a policeman in the French town of Nanterre during a traffic stop.

In an effort to put an end to the two-day-old protests, the authorities opened an official investigation into the voluntary killing of the police officer who killed Nal on Thursday.

A video that was going viral on social media disproved the police account that an officer shot at the teenager because he was driving his car toward him.

In the video, Naël was pulled over by two police officers for “breaking traffic rules” while driving a yellow Mercedes.

Two policemen can be seen in the video standing by the side of the stopped automobile, one of them brandishing a firearm at the driver.

A voice is heard saying: “You are going to get a bullet in the head”. The police officer then appears to fire as the car drives off.

The driver died immediately after the automobile crashed after accelerating for a few meters.

The prosecution, Pascal Prache, claimed that Nal's arm and chest were shot through.

According to Prache, the officer who shot the teenager said he was scared the boy would run someone over with the car and was motivated by “fear of being hit by the vehicle when it started up again, or of seeing his colleague further inside the vehicle injured by the car’s movement”.

Outraged at what had happened, French civilians flocked to the streets and set fire to cars, schools, and businesses all across the Paris area.

A prison in Fresnes, south of the city, reportedly came under fire from rioters using fireworks.

180 people have already been detained in connection with the rioting, and at least 40,000 police officers have been deployed throughout France to put an end to the demonstrations.

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