France expects riots and protests over police shooting: So much anger

In French residential neighborhoods, amid the twisted and burning wreckage of torched cars, with the smell of melted asphalt and black smoke, several more nights of rioting and soul-searching were expected amid fractured race relations and deep distrust of police.

"There is so much anger here," said Shakir, a 21-year-old youth center worker who stayed up until 5 a.m. on the streets of his residential neighborhood in Roubaix, northwestern France, where more than 100 young people set off fireworks with lighters and threw them toward police lines. They were protesting after the death of a 17-year-old boy, Nahel, of Algerian origin, who was shot dead at close range by police in Nanterre, west of Paris, during a traffic stop on Tuesday.

The killing, caught on video, went viral online and sparked successive nights of clashes with police in residential areas across France, with politicians fearing the unrest would spread. "The police have to protect us," Shakir said. "But there's a sense that there's nothing protecting us anymore. I'm afraid the clashes will continue. Young people try to get attention any way they can. Violence begets more violence. "

More than 6,000 people gathered for a peaceful march for justice in Nanterre on Thursday, with crowds chanting "No justice, no peace!" and "Everybody hates the police!" Nahel's mother, Munya, looked down from a roofless truck at the crowd, trying to hold back tears. At the end of the march, near police headquarters, officers used tear gas and confronted some protesters at the edge of the crowd. By the end of the day, several cars in Nanterre were set on fire.

After 14 deaths during police stops in the past 18 months, most of them young black and Arab men, Nahel's case had particular resonance because it was captured on video. Police initially reported that one of the officers shot the teen because he was lashing out at him with his car. But the video shows two police officers standing next to the stationary vehicle, and one of them pointing a gun at the driver. A voice is heard saying, "You're going to get a bullet in the head." The officer then appears to fire at close range when the car suddenly touches down. "They lied," said the 57-year-old mother from the Nahel neighborhood. A premeditated murder investigation has been launched against the officer involved in the incident. Many in the residential neighborhood said the case would not have been taken seriously without the video.

40,000 police officers were deployed across France on Thursday night and overnight public transportation in Paris was halted early over fears of arson attacks on buses and streetcars. Politicians feared a repeat of 2005, when the deaths of two young boys who eluded police in an electrical substation in Clichy-sous-Bois outside Paris sparked weeks of riots and France declared a state of emergency when more than 9,000 cars and dozens of government buildings and businesses were burned.