Paris: French authorities will deploy more than 2,000 police officers in suburbs of Paris to ensure security following recent protests that erupted after police allegedly shot dead a 17-year-old teenager during a traffic stop, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday.
The teenage boy was shot in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday morning, after he refused to comply with police instructions. News media reported that the teenager was driving a rental car and broke several traffic rules. Violent protests erupted in several suburbs of Paris at night following the incident.
More than 2,000 police officers and gendarmes will be called to work on Wednesday evening in the Parisian suburbs, in particular the Hauts-de-Seine department, to avoid new unrest, Darmanin said on Twitter.
The minister added that on Tuesday, 31 people were detained during the riots. He also noted that 24 police officers were slightly injured and the protesters torched about 40 cars.
Darmanin condemned the unrest and urged citizens to calm down and the prosecutors office to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.
At the same time, he said that if the illegal actions of the police were confirmed, then they could not be justified in any way.
(With UNI inputs)
