teenager has sparked widespread protests in france and once again the use of excessive force by police is under the spotlight. how will the government address this issue? they said's inside story. -- this is inside story. folly: hello and welcome to the program. i am folly bah thibault.

a long simmering anger against police brutality in the suburbs of france has turned into nationwide protests. a 17-year-old was called by police in nanterre. it is one of the many instances of systemic racism targeting poor and ethnically diverse communities. we have a lot to get to with our guests in a moment. the first this report. reporter: the paris suburb of nanterre lift up for another night, anger turning to fire. the latest police killing of a teenager was brought into focus. during the day tribute sport in for 17-year-old nael m. he was shot dead on this road

tuesday. the police claimed it was self-defense. a witness video seem to contradict that statement. the car was stopped, a police officer pointed a gun at the driver. >> the public prosecutor considers legal conditions for using the weapon have not been met. >> the emotion that comes with the death of a young man calls for contemplation. it is what the government has constantly called for. reporter: this is the third fatal police shooting at a traffic stop in france this year. there were a record 13 the year before. in may, the united nations accused france of increased police violence during pension reform protests. and several countries criticized the nation at the u.n. counsel for religious intolerance. but inside the paris suburbs,

there was a long history with police incidents often triggering a violent reaction. in february 2017, a young black man was left permanently disabled after a violent police arrest. in july 2016, a man died in police custody after he resisted an id check. in 2005, 2 teenagers were electrocuted when they hid from police, leaving protests that went on for three weeks. that anger and demand for justice has returned to the streets of france. folly: let's bring in our guests for today's inside story. in paris, yasser louati, human rights and civil liberties activist.

in london, rainbow murray, specialist in french politics. jacques de maillard, director of the center for sociological research on law and penal institutions. thank you so much for joining us on inside story. we are seeing the protests over the killing of nael m spread beyond the suburb of nanterre. why is there so much anger in france today? >> the answer is already in the question. the event in paris sparked rage throughout france. we have to put it in perspective and look at the past 20 years. since the 2005 uprising that took place in the northern suburbs of paris after the death of another person. why are people expressing themselves in such a manner? it is the fact that all other

ways of expressing yourself when you are arab or black have been shut down. a police officer is pointing his gun at this driver and shooting him point-blank in the heart. the video so horrendous that even the minister of interior criticized the use of a lethal weapon by the police man, but also emmanuel macron. this cannot be separated from the general anger of the situation for these people. folly: getting to the issues a bit more deeper in just a minute. yasser, what is more startling in this incident is that the

police appear to have lied about the circumstances of the killing. last year, about 13 people were reportedly killed by officers under similar circumstances. but unlike in this situation, there was no video. it is excessive use by police worse than what we actually know? >> definitely. the french police are the deadliest police on the continent of europe. another black man was killed, 19 years old driving his car going to work. and he was shot by the police, but unfortunately there was no video. before the video, the government was quick to react to defend the

police. this is why we cannot trust the first versions. folly: looking at the specific incident, the police officer responsible has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. what do you think will happen to him based on past experiences? is he likely to be convicted? >> it is very difficult to say. we feel there was an immediate reaction by political actors.

the use of deadly force in traffic stop's. folly: you talk about deteriorated relationships between people in these disaffected minorities and police. are we looking at a repeat of 2005. >> i am going to disappoint you. most observers were surprised by

the importance and that you may have had some neighborhoods [indiscernible] there is anger among these young people. the handling of the situation is different from the police on the one hand and political actors on the other hand. you never know if history is going to repeat itself. folly: i want to bring in a to the conversation. -- bring in rainbow to the conversation. can the government contain this crisis? >> they are going to have to find a way to do it.

one of the reasons it is difficult is because the response of the other political parties of whom omicron is depending on alliances opposed. macron does not have a parliamentary majority so he needs to work with other parties. the parties of the right have sided with the police. that leaves emmanuel macron caught between a rock and a hard place. at the same time he needs to find a way to help the people who feel aggrieved by the shooting to find resolution. the street protests need to be contained by the same police, the people they are protesting against. so he cannot afford to alienate the police. folly: we are going to talk about some of the laws that govern the police in a moment.

i wanted to ask about the current situation and the same question. are we looking at a similar repeat of history and events of 2005? >> we cannot predict the future. but the situation right now is very similar. the only difference being that we only -- already had the precedent of 2005. we have to watch with a bit of caution even though to be honest , it was so quick to spread throughout the national territory. i did not expect that. as it was said earlier, the response from emmanuel macron

will be did hated by the far right and we are ready so emmanuel macron say attack against the re-police is an attack against the republic. she did not say attack against citizens is an attack against the republic. shows again after his initial reaction of criticizing the use of deadly force he is already veering to defund the police. -- defend the police. they only said there could potentially be an issue of racism with in the police the

mesial he's fate to show how powerful these unions are. we have to see how emmanuel macron reacts to keep his authority because again he does not have a majority in parliament. and how much pressure will be applied. folly: for our international audience, let us take a closer look at the french laws that some rights groups have criticized for giving police more power to exercise excessive force. it allows police to use firearms against drivers who ignored an order to stop and if they pose a risk to life and safety. in 2020 the government stopped a security bill that would've prevented people from filming police. in 2021 the french parliament passed the security bill that would extend police powers, including using drones to monitor citizens.

critics have said the attitudes of the french police is encouraged from the top. is that the case? what is the message from the top? >> the message has generally been one to support the police and to reinforce their powers. the police have faced significant challenges, especially when france was subject to a series of terrorist attacks. it was feared the police did not have enough powers to contain that. so some of those powers were reinforced. they have been asked to deal with some quite difficult situations over the last few years, including the covid pandemic and the lockdowns. the police are continuously calling for protection. the unions want the government to stand by them.

at the same time there is a growing sense that the police have problems with racism, excessive police force and brutality, which has caused a backlash against the police. folly: police unions have said that incidents like the one in nanterre are isolated. is the case of this police officer just one bad apple, or is there a real problem of impunity? >> it is a delicate question. you cannot say that what happened is something systemic or structural within the french police. on the other hand, you could not say it is an isolated incident.

folly: is it a lack of training? >> starts with the lack of vocational. has to do with the use of force. i do not say that the use of force is commonplace in the french police. but the policies in terms of treatment and management do not take enough into account. being able to de-escalate, being able to talk with the people in a peaceful manner.

the french police officers said they are the most controlled public service in the french administration. to some extent this is true. on the other hand, have a lot of autonomy as a french police officer. there was a lack of external control by such agencies. they should play a stronger role . folly: he said this is not

necessarily stem -- the. do you agree? -- he said this is not necessarily systemic. do you agree? >> the number of people killed by the police has more than doubled. the police is supervised by former police officer's. i am going to quote the senate in 2014. a woman raised a question to the minister interior about the mental and physical fitness of the police in 2020. we went from a recruiting 150 candidates. it became one out of five. folly: so it is a problem of recruitment? >> yes, the problem lies with

recruitment. there is not enough of disqualification of unfit individuals. we went to taken one out of 50 to one out of five. to make things worse, the training has been reduced. you add to it the layer of lack of accountability. 52% of law enforcement voted in favor of the emmanuel macron. the national police was born in

1941 and we should not forget the racist history of the police with the jews and the arabs. it is not about random events repeating themselves. it is about a rotten tree that needs to be reformed. folly: rainbow, your thoughts about this? these shootings in the working class neighborhoods are a symptom of a deeper and wider problem in france of discrimination, racism as well. what has happened to the idea of liberty and fraternity? has it failed? >> i think it is kind of orwellian.

france has a long history of racial discrimination. some of which it has tried to sweep under the carpet by not measuring it. it does not collect data on race for example. minority backgrounds find it hard to find employment. they are much greater victims of the police. they are often relegated to certain neighborhoods. while france struggles to acknowledge its difficulties with race, they are very present. this is not a one-off incident. i could offer a series of names of people who have been killed during police custody or while being arrested. to give just one example, in

2016, a man died which caused widespread protest around the country, not just in the neighborhood where it happened. it just feels like history repeating itself. folly: sorry to interrupt you. we have just a few minutes left. i want to talk about the solutions. what can be done to address all of these issues? when it comes to police brutality, how does the government deal with it? the united nations has criticized france for increase police violence. what needs to be done in your review to address this issue? what needs to change? >> that is a difficult question.

but there is the issue of external control. you cannot reform the police against [indiscernible] this is a strong issue. you have to win the hearts of police officers. you have to train police officers. the use of daily force is something technical, but it is also something relational. this question is a question of how you are assisted in training as a police officer. the issue of recruitment, how you choose the good ones.

there was also the question and i think it is crucial, the question of civil society. a good police is a police which is within the french society. there is a real issue of how the police are able to listen to society with all its complexities. folly: how should the french government address this issue and how does it address the concerns of these disaffected communities? >> we have to redefine the role

of the police. is it there to protect the regime or to protect and serve the population? we have to raise the bar in terms of recruiting individuals who apply to become policeman. and better control of the police. it should be open to sociologists, community organizers and people who could have a voice and expose what the police is doing. we need to have a more independent judicial system where the prosecutor is no longer nominated by the executive branch of power, but from within the justice system. so that families stand a chance of holding the police

accountable. and last, we need to stop with the idea that the police is there to break bones and terrorize people. it is not a coincidence that the ones who died in 2005 fled from the police despite having done no wrong. folly: what needs to happen for france to restore its image of a torchbearer of liberty and equality and human rights? >> we need courage in leadership from the very heart of government. one of the great challenges is the growing strength of the far right, who have stoked racial tensions within france. at the moment, because of the lack of the parliamentary majority, the government is trying to work with the

government -- the parties of the right. the government needs to have the courage to overcome this desire to win back voters from the far right and take a moral stand. folly: thank you very much to all three of you for a great discussion. thank you very much for joining us on inside story. you can always watch this program again by visiting our website at aljazeera.com. for further discussion, go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. from the whole team, thanks for watching. goodbye for now.