A Teen Slain by Police Uproots France

The Intercept Briefing

The Intercept

Politics, Unknown, Daily News, History, News

4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk during a traffic stop in Paris, France, sparked days of protests across the country. This week on Intercepted, host Murtaza Hussain is joined by Yasser Louati, a French political analyst and human rights advocate to discuss how Merzouk’s death struck at the fault lines underlying social discontent building in the country and the increasing power of the police.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is intercepted.
0:30.0	Welcome to Intercepted. I'm Mertaza Hussein.
0:41.0	In recent weeks, France has been rocked by a wave of protests, triggered by the French police killing of a 17-year-old teenager.
0:49.0	Now to the riots rocking France after the police killed a 17-year-old president Emmanuel Macron promising a thorough investigation after public buildings were set on fire over the weekend.
1:08.0	France's Interior Minister says police arrested more than 700 people on the 5th night of unrest across the country.
1:15.0	The family and friends of the 17-year-old who was killed by police conducted a private funeral.
1:21.0	On June 27, during a traffic stop, a French police officer shot and killed Nahelle Mersouk, a French teenager of North African descent.
1:31.0	Although the officer said he'd been endangered and feared for his life, a video of the shooting later emerged suggesting otherwise.
1:38.0	The riots in response to Nahelle's killing mostly led by teenagers spread throughout France, and French authorities have met them with force.
1:47.0	France has been rocked by different types of unrest in recent years.
1:51.0	In 2018, the Yellow Vest movement spread throughout the country, and just earlier this same year, in response to a pension reform by President Emmanuel Macron's government, people began to protest and riot once again.
2:05.0	Our next guest has been tracking these uprisings and what they mean for the future of French society.
2:10.0	We're joined by Yasur Lwati, a French political analyst and human rights advocate based in Paris.
2:17.0	He is currently the head of the Committee for Justice and Liberties, a transnational human rights and civil liberties organization.
2:24.0	Yasur, welcome to Intercepted.
2:27.0	Thank you for having me more of this a pleasure.
2:29.0	So Yasur, in the last week of June, protests erupted in Paris after a police officer shot a 17-year-old boy named Nahelle Mersouk.
2:37.0	First of all, can you tell us who was Nahelle and walked through what exactly took place?
2:43.0	Well, Nahelle was a 17-year-old kid, as you mentioned in your introduction. He was stopped by two motorized police officers.
2:53.0	The first bit of information we got in the news was that he tried to ram the police officer or to run him over.
3:01.0	The police men were, you know, fearing for his life, resorted to using deadly force.
3:07.0	Nahelle had no criminal history whatsoever. He was the only child of a single mother and the news broke out.
	...

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