What you need to know about the French teenager whose death at hands of police triggered riots

What you need to know about the French teenager whose death at hands of police triggered riots

The death of a teenager at the hands of police in France has triggered days of violent protests across the country.

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Nahel Merzouk, 17, who was of Algerian and Moroccan descent, was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop on Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

Here's what is known about him so far.

Nahel was still living with his mother Mounia, in the Vieux-Pont neighbourhood of Nanterre, around 15km from central Paris, according to French newspaper Le Parisien.

It reports that in 2021, he enrolled on a course leading to an electrical qualification at the lycee Louis Bleriot in nearby Suresnes.

The teenager was also a member of the Pirates of Nanterre rugby club and had been part of an integration programme for teenagers struggling in school, run by an association called Ovale Citoyen.

Ovale Citoyen president Jeff Puech was quoted by France24 saying the teenager "wanted to make it" and had dropped out of school but was "no big-time bandit".

The rugby club paid tribute to Nahel in a Facebook post earlier this week and wrote: "The Pirates of Nanterre are a family and we mourn our brother. Rest in Peace Nahel".

Nahel's mother, identified as Mounia M, told France 5 television earlier this week that she was angry at the accused officer rather than at police in general. "He saw a little, Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life," she said.

"A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children's lives."

The teenager appeared to be a fan of Marseille rapper Jul and appeared in one of his music videos for his song Ragnar, which was posted on YouTube in May.

Nahel is briefly seen next to the rapper a frame of the video.

The shooting of the teenager, caught on video, has reignited longstanding complaints by poor and racially mixed urban communities of police violence and racism.

Emmanuel Macron had denied there is systemic racism in French law enforcement agencies.

A passenger in the car released a video on social media saying he wants to "establish the truth ... because there are a lot of lies on social media".

As the funeral for Nahel took place on Saturday, several hundred people lined up to enter Nanterre's grand mosque, which was guarded by volunteers in yellow vests, while a few dozen bystanders watched from across the street.

The officer who shot Nahel has been put under formal investigation over voluntary homicide and is being held in prison in preventive detention. Under the French legal system, being placed under formal investigation is akin to being charged in the UK.

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