Second day of riots in Nantes, France, over the death of a young man shot by police

Eleven people were arrested Wednesday in Nantes (France) on what was the second day of riots following the death of a young man, allegedly a criminal, shot by a police officer when he was arrested at a police checkpoint.

According to the police, Aboubacar Fofana, 22, gave a false identity when he was arrested and, to verify it, they decided to take him to the police station. The young man tried to run backwards and ran over a policeman, then he was shot by another cop and died hours later in the hospital.

Dozens of cars and several buildings have been burned during the protests, concentrated in the neighborhood of Breil, where the incident occurred in which Aboubacar died. The altercations also spread to the neighborhoods of Bellevue, Dervallières and Malakoff.

Riot police fired tear gas at groups of youths who had formed barricades at some points, and protected the firefighters during the fires’ extinction. Four of those arrested are minors, according to sources of the investigation cited by France 3 channel.

The violence in Nantes began on Tuesday, the day of the arrest and death of the young man, whom they were looking for on suspicion that he was carrying out drug trafficking operations.

-TN