France saw an outpouring of riots and protests this summer, after the police killing of seventeen-year-old Nahel Merzouk in a working-class neighborhood of the Parisian suburb of Nanterre. A widely circulated video showed an officer shooting the French-Algerian teenager at point-blank range during a traffic stop. The tragedy marked the latest episode of police brutality in France — and of the excessive use of force against young men of color, in particular.

While the killing initially sparked discussion over policing and racial profiling, national media attention quickly shifted to the riots, which saw violent confrontations between law enforcement and young people in the streets. In Marseille, a twenty-seven-year-old man died shortly after being hit by a blast ball fired by police and a twenty-two-year-old suffered a skull fracture at the hands of law enforcement.

After a prosecutor opened an investigation into the latter case — detaining an officer suspected of criminal activity — police unions went on the offensive, calling for the release of their colleague and cheering on an unofficial work stoppage to protest. In defiance of the law and existing court procedures, France’s national police chief subsequently declared that, with rare exceptions, police officers “do not belong in prison.” Hard-line interior minister Gérald Darmanin underlined his support for those comments — and pledged to consider police demands.