NANTES, France: A French policeman who shot dead a young black man in western France, sparking four nights of rioting, has been charged with manslaughter, his lawyer said as clashes between youths and police raged into early Saturday.
The unrest has shone a light on tensions in deprived urban areas of France, where local youths often complain about heavy-handed policing and brutality. The officer had initially claimed he acted in self-defense while trying to arrest the year-old in the city of Nantes on Tuesday, but later told investigators he had fired his weapon by accident. The victim, identified as Aboubakar Fofana, died from a single bullet wound to the neck on Tuesday evening after police stopped him in his car in the Breil neighborhood of Nantes — home to a large public housing estate with a history of gang violence.
Police initially said that Aboubakar, who was under surveillance for suspected drug trafficking, had resisted arrest and tried to reverse his car into an officer.
But a witness who spoke to AFP said the car was stationary when the policeman opened fire. Security services fired teargas Saturday in two suburbs after coming under Molotov cocktail fire.
Calm was restored before first light, AFP reporters said. There have been more than a dozen arrests over the violence, including in Garges-les-Gonesse, the Paris suburb where Aboubakar grew up. Three men were given suspended four-month prison sentences on Friday for taking part in the violence after the shooting.
