There has been a flashback moment in France within these past few weeks. Similar to the George Floyd riots and situation back in 2020, a 17-year-old named Nahel M. was shot in the head by a police officer, creating outrage, riots, and destruction. With the protests caused by this death, hundreds were arrested, buildings were destroyed, and thousands of officers were deployed.

With multiple video proofs and eyewitnesses, the police officer in question was arrested for voluntary homicide. The videos surrounding this case flamed the public’s anger and distrust - especially after the original narrative of this case was very contradictory to the actual evidence. One of these evidences provided a voice that clearly stated “You are going to get a bullet in the head.” Followed by this frightening threat was a single bullet. This bullet was shot in Nahel’s head and he died on the spot. Nahel was driving his car during his death with two other passengers. After the shot to his head, the car kept moving forward and was only stopped when it hit a utility pole. The aftermath of this scene is quite disturbing with the wreckage and ashes surrounding the crashed-looking car.

On top of these fundraisers were riot-turned-protests. Fortunately, some of these protests remained calm and relatively safe, but others were not so lucky. Both sides reacted in violence, which included tear gas, stones, and even fireworks. The environment got so violent and wild that buildings near the protests were destroyed, vandalized, and ruined. Some buildings had to be evacuated with the amount of tear gas and violence around them. Schools have been targeted and leisure centers and cultural centers have been damaged badly or fully destroyed. Even a specific social and cultural center that Nahel had attended as a child was damaged.

Because of the damages and destruction of the protests, some citizens were quick to notice them and pointed out that this isn’t the way to respect Nahel’s memory and the cause and meaning of the whole petition. When asked about this situation, Lancy Shi, a rising senior at Yorba Linda High School, expresses how “this kind of protesting is not going to solve anything” and how “using violence to protest violence is only going to set us back as humans.” Despite this, Lancy agrees that “there is no denying that it brought this case to the public’s attention.” This is very true as many similar cases as this have occurred but no media coverage has surrounded it because it wasn’t “pleasing” enough for the viewers.

<Yuna Shin Yorba Linda High School 12th Grade>