Paris Riots: Violence Erupts After Teen Shot Dead By Police

Gerald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, told parliament that the two police officers were being questioned and acknowledged that the images posted on social media were “extremely shocking”.

He urged people to “respect the grief of the family and the presumption of innocence of the police”.

Laurent Nunez, the Paris police chief, admitted in an interview with BFM television that the action of the officer “raises questions”, though he said it was possible the officer felt threatened.

Yassine Bouzrou, the family’s lawyer, told the same channel that while all parties needed to wait for the result of the investigation, the images “clearly showed a policeman killing a young man in cold blood”.

“This is a long way from any kind of legitimate defence,” he said, adding the family had filed a complaint accusing the police of “lying” by initially claiming the car had tried to run down the officers.