France: Police killing sparks turmoil in Lille suburbs
01 March 2000
The killing of a 25-year-old Algerian, Ryad Hamlaoui, by a police officer sparked two nights of rioting in Lille's southern suburbs, in spite of pleas for restraint by the youth's family and Muslim community leaders. Riot police used teargas to dispel crowds of around 1,000 people who hurled stones, molotov cocktails and set cars and two subway stations on fire. Sixty one people, including twenty-four minors, were detained following the riots, in which eight policemen were injured. Stephane Andolina, the police dog handler who shot Manlaoui in the back of the neck as he was sitting in the passenger seat of a stolen Opel Corsa, was suspended and is being investigated for "voluntary homicide.".
Martine Aubry, employment minister and assistant mayor of Lille, said the unrest was a setback for recent attempts to improve community policing in Lille. She said excellent work had been done in attempts to reclaim the suburbs through job creation schemes and police de proximite, which involves community work and zero tolerance for minor offences, adding: "the work carried out in Lille-Sud must not just be continued, it must be intensified and go deeper". A youth from the area was quoted expressing resentment towards the community policing programme: "now that [Interior minister] Chevenement has put them [policemen] in the neighbourhood, they look for us, they tail us. You think it's normal."
The charge of "voluntary homicide" is unusual in cases involving police shootings, as the lesser charge of "voluntary violence with a weapon causing death without intent" is usually preferred. The fact that the shot was fired from close range, that the youth had no previous criminal record and that the North African community was up in arms may have contributed. Lille public prosecutor Claude Mathon justified the charges, "The policeman shot him in the neck from close range. If you do that, you can be said to have homicidal intentions." He also assured that Andolina was "devastated" by his action. The officer claimed that he shot after a "sudden movement" by Hamlaoui which caused him to fear for his life.
Le Monde 18.4.00; Guardian 19.4.00; Times 19.4.00; Independent 19.4.00.