Police officer accused of manslaughter denies threatening teen with 'bullet in the head'

The policeman who sparked riots across France last week after killing a teenager has denied threatening to shoot the boy in the head before opening fire.

The hearing of police officer Florian M. took place before the investigating chamber of the Versailles court of appeal on Thursday 6 July, 2023. © JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP

According to a court transcript released Friday, the 38-year-old officer – named as Florian M. – told the IGPN internal police investigation service he did not say the words "you're going to get a bullet in the head," as had earlier been alleged on social media. 

The apparent threat was a key feature of a bystander's video of the shooting that contradicted an initial police account and sparked successive nights of rioting in which cars and public buildings were burnt, businesses looted and youths clashed with police.

• Calls for justice for teenager shot dead by French police two weeks before Nahel

Investigators believe they were uttered by a second officer at the scene, with digital checks on the video ongoing.

The motorbike traffic officer said he had pulled the trigger because he was afraid the driver of the car – 17-year-old Nahel – would drive off and drag his colleague with him.

The policeman – who has been charged with voluntary manslaughter – had his detention extended early Thursday by an appeals court in Versailles outside Paris.

Heureusement pour vous que tout le monde peut être défendu, sinon qui vous défendrait ?

Une façon bien inquiétante de concevoir la justice si tant est qu’elle puisse être indépendante dans votre monde.

Un avocat ne défend pas des causes, il se bat pour la liberté et la sûreté https://t.co/8M1uITXMKn

— Rémy DANDAN (@Remydandan) July 6, 2023

Fallout from the 27 June shooting of Nahel continued to top news bulletins, with the collection for the police officer organised by far-right personality Jean Messiha reaching 1.6 million euros before he closed it on Wednesday.

According to lawyer Yassine Bouzrou, who is representing Nahel's mother, the family have filed a criminal complaint for "fraud by a group, misuse of personal data and conspiracy in these crimes against Jean Messiha and everyone ... taking part in these offences."

• Fundraiser for family of French policeman who shot teen closed after complaints

'Bullet in the head'

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised that his government will formulate a response to the riots in the country's deprived, multi-ethnic suburbs once events have been properly analysed.

"We will keep working" on answers, he said on a visit to the southwestern city of Pau, adding that "the first response is order, calm and harmony".

France's interior ministry have reported that only 20 people were arrested overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, reinforcing perceptions that life is returning closer to normal.

The IGPN and its equivalent for the gendarmerie are investigating 10 alleged incidents of improper behaviour by police during the violence which saw 45,000 officers deployed each night to restore order.

📹 Nous avons subi une immigration totalement anarchique, qui entraîne une forme de sécession avec la société française.

Il faut supprimer le droit du sol et être beaucoup plus exigeant dans la manière dont nous accordons la nationalité française. #Les4V pic.twitter.com/Yb37mGFQej

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) July 6, 2023

Politcal 'showdown' over origin of riots

The violence has propelled issues of unequal justice and policing, immigration and integration back to the top of the agenda in France after months of battle over Macron's detested pension reform.

With the loss of manufacturing industries that once employed suburban populations, "France's socio-economic dynamics have created a 'clientele' for the police, mostly from former colonial populations, locked up with them in a deadly showdown with no way out," police researcher Fabien Jobard told daily Le Monde.

But after days largely below the radar, Marine Le Pen, leader of the far right National Rally and Macron's two-time challenger for the presidency, told broadcaster France 2 that "poverty is not at the origin of these riots".

Instead, the "problem of immigration" had "created in many people's minds a kind of secession from French society", she added.

Meanwhile the hard-left France Unbowed party has joined calls for "citizen marches" on Saturday against "discriminatory" police tactics and social policies.

🔴 Notre pays est en deuil et en colère.

Avec une centaine d'associations, nous demandons une réponse politique.

Nous appelons à des rassemblements à partir de ce soir et à des marches citoyennes le samedi 8 juillet comme la marche organisée par le collectif Vérité et Justice… pic.twitter.com/su3xJtwsTs

— La France insoumise (@FranceInsoumise) July 5, 2023

The party was heckled for days by Macron's centrists, conservatives and the far right for failing to condemn rioting as soon as it began.

Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon retorted, "None of us called for insurrection or setting fires ... no-one is happy when cars are burning".

However, Melenchon added that he and left-wingers should "never distance ourselves from the communities we represent, even when there are contradictions."