Paris puts youth accused of misconduct during protests on hasty trials
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Courts in France began working overtime as the justice ministry demands cracking down on suspects with an iron grip.
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Mounia Merzouk, the mother of killed teenager Nahel Merzouk, stands atop a truck during a commemoration march for her son in Nanterre, Paris, on Thursday June 29, 2023. (AFP)
France has begun a judicial crackdown on individuals arrested during the nationwide protests and launched speedy trials for thousands of youths that took the streets following the killing of a teenager by the police.
Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan origin was shot in the chest at point-blank range last week in the western region of Paris after he was pulled over for breaking traffic rules in a yellow Mercedes.
"Very clearly, I want a firm hand,” French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told judges in a message aired on France Inter radio on Monday.
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It is yet unclear to what extent Paris is willing to go to suppress youth demonstrating against the killing of the teenager, but President Emmanuel Macron called on the French government to consider a social media blackout and expanded control over uploaded content in case the situation "gets out of hand".
“We need to think about how young people use social networks … when things get out of hand, we may have to regulate them or cut them off," Macron told 200 mayors on Wednesday, whose municipalities witnessed angry protests.
“I think it’s a real debate that we need to have in the cold light of day."
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Official figures suggest that between 3400-4000 people have been arrested so far, including around 1,200 minors - some even as young as 12. Most of the arrested individuals have no previous criminal record, the justice ministry said.
Special sessions were held over the weekend in the area were Merzouk was killed, while other courts accross the country launched hasty trials and have been working around the clock to prosecute suspects.
The recent police killing of the youth has reignited deep-seated resentment towards police brutality among various French minority communities. It has also sparked a renewed and contentious discussion about the issue of racial profiling by French law enforcement.
In 2016, France's Supreme Court of Appeals made a ruling acknowledging that certain identity checks conducted by the police were discriminatory, solely driven by the "actual or perceived origin" of the young individuals who were subjected to these stops.
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The Court's verdict classified this behavior as "serious misconduct" on the part of the government, which compelled them to implement certain reforms. These changes included the implementation of body cameras for select officers.
However, it has not called into question the general practice of identity checks.
In 2021, several human rights organizations initiated a class-action lawsuit against the government, demanding various reforms, including a more defined legal foundation for identity stops. The commencement of the case is expected to begin shortly.
During the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Monday, the French government was accused of committing acts of aggression against migrants, engaging in racial profiling, and displaying religious intolerance
