Bobbi Storm features in the Grammy's 2024 Best Gospel Album nomination, 'The Maverick Way'

The number of mourners was so large, crowds spilled out of the Parisian mosque and stopped traffic as they prayed in the middle of the street. The killing of 17-year-old Nahel Marzouk by the police has been labelled an “execution” and has ignited the fury of the nation, sparking a level of unrest not seen in France for over a decade. At least 2,400 people have been arrested across the country, curfews imposed and public transport curtailed as open street battles raged between protesters and police, and looting became rampant. In response, President Emmanuel Macron deployed 45,000 officers, including elite anti-terrorism units and armoured vehicles which scour the streets. But on Saturday, at Nahel’s funeral at a mosque in Nanterre, the west Paris suburb where he lived and was fatally shot, the most glaring absence was the security forces. Volunteers from the local community instead curtly policed the streets, which are scrawled with the phrase “the country of police impunity”. They reined in the emotions, which ran high when the body was brought out to a hearse escorted by hundreds of people on foot and on scooters. “It is finished,” Nahel mother Mounia said bravely, in a cloud of female well-wishers after the coffin was lowered into the earth. “He has gone to paradise.” Nahel – a teenager of Moroccan and Algerian origin – was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop on Tuesday: an incident which was caught on mobile phone footage, and showed Nahel driving away from the officers before one fired at him. Outraged at the murder, and the apparent efforts by the police to paint Nahel as a troubled teenager wanted by the law, thousands have protested across the country. Nahel’s death was “the last drop to cause the vase to overflow”, family friends repeatedly told The Independent. France exploded. For four nights the streets of cities including Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille have been ablaze with looters ransacking dozens of shops and torching 2000 vehicles according to the interior ministry. There have been calls for calm and for President Macron to impose a state of emergency, with more unrest on the horizon. The United Nations has also weighed in urging the country to “seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement”. It has taken a toll on Mr Macron’s diplomatic profile. On Saturday Mr Macron was forced to postpone what would have been the first state visit by a French president to Germany in 23 years, citing internal security issues. In the funeral march to the hill-top cemetery friends of the family said they were in “deep shock” and talked of struggling with racism endemic in the French police force. “I’m shaken, we all are, especially as a mother with children living in this neighbourhood,” said Theresa, 60, who lived next door to Nahel’s grandmother and personally knew the teenager, she described as “smiley, hardworking and kind”. “Thank god there is a video, the police are lying all the time. This might change things,” she added. Mohamed, 60, who is also part of the Algerian community in Nanterre and a friend of Nahel’s mother Mounia, said they were all treated like “second-class citizens”. “Nahel was his mother’s entire world, and now he is gone. She has lost everything. We simply do not get the same rights.” Nahel was his mother’s entire world, and now he is gone. We do not get the same rights Mohamed, friend of the family His comments were echoed by half-a-dozen other mourners The Independent spoke to throughout the day. “If you are not white, you’re not equal. There is a two-tiered nationality system,” said Abdelmalek Hamchoui, 62, a local community leader. “I’m made to feel like I’m only French on paper,” added Hadhrami Belhachemi, 35. And so the incident has thrown a searing spotlight onto France’s judicial and legal system. Abdelmadjid Benamara, one of the family’s lawyers who is also from Nanterre, called Nahel’s killing an “execution” and told The Independent it was just the latest in a long line of alarming incidents committed by the French police. He called for a slew of investigations into police response to the incident and for major reforms to the legal system. You have to call a spade a spade: this is an execution Abdelmadjid Benamara, Nahel’s family lawyer “You can’t be hypocritical about it. When a policeman kills a young teenager you have to call a spade a spade: this is an execution. You have to open the correct investigation,” he added. While the police officer who fired the shot was taken in custody on charges of voluntary homicide when a video of the incident emerged, the second police officer on the scene has not been charged and is still working, Mr Benamara continued. “The problem is with the legal system as a whole after a 2017 bill relaxed the rules around police officers' rights to use their firearms.” “In 2022 there were 13 instances where the French police fired on citizens, in similar circumstances to Nahel M’s killing. Of those only five are being investigated” he added. The only difference this time is that there is a video of the event. “There is a social contract between the people and the government that has been broken. There is no trust any more,” he added. The unrest has also revived memories of riots in 2005 that rocked France for three weeks and forced then-president Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency. That wave of violence erupted in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and spread across the country following the death of two young men who ended up being electrocuted in a power substation as they hid from police. Many people The Independent spoke to said nothing had changed since then. “I’ve been living in this neighbourhood for 27 years, and it has only got more racist every year,” Laslah Baghdad, 58, another mourner from Nanterre said back at Nahel’s funeral. “How you fight that I don’t know .” The explosion of rage across the country, triggered by the video evidence of Nahel’s killing that points to homocide, might be the catalyst for a different future, Theresa continued. “We have an expression: 100 years for the thief, a year for the master. This really embodies the situation here,” she said. “But now we feel change will happen.” Read More France riots - latest: Mourners line street for funeral of teenager shot dead by police Watch: View of Nanterre as funeral held for teenager shot dead by French police Rioters attack Strasbourg Apple store over Paris police shooting Rioting rages across France for fourth night ahead of funeral for teenager shot dead by police Who is Nahel M? The teen shot dead by police in France

SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 1, 2023--

Approximately 100 letters containing a white powder have been received by state legislators and public officials across Kansas, officials said, setting off an investigation that includes state and federal agencies.

Jet2 and Tui have cancelled all flights to Rhodes as wildfires continue to tear through the Greek holiday destination for a sixth consecutive day. The Jet2 planes were scheduled to depart from the East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle and Stansted airports full of tourists bound for the Greek island. But the planes left emply and will instead be used to evacuate holidaymakers fleeing the blaze. Fire crews are now in a race against time to stop the fires from spreading further with 21mph (34kph) winds forecast for tomorrow. Thousands of tourists were forced to flee their hotels and images captured their dramatic evacuation off of beaches by a fleet of private boats while the fires raged in the background. Becky Mulligan, a 29-year-old training manager from Leicester, was staying at the Princess Sun Hotel in the Kiotari resort on Rhodes’s southeast coast when she, her daughter, 5 and sister, 20 say they were forced to flee. “I thought I was going to die. It was like hell on earth,” she told The Independent. Read More Wildfires on Greek island of Rhodes force thousands of holidaymakers to evacuate From body bags of ice to pavement burn: US grapples with new extreme heat reality Hiker, 71, dies in Death Valley shortly after being asked by reporter why he was braving heat: ‘Why not?’ July 2023 is set to be world’s hottest month in ‘hundreds, if not thousands, of years’

Israeli troops on Thursday advanced their campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza, fighting gun battles and taking control of a key port a day after a raid...

The case of a Missouri doctor whose body was found in an Arkansas lake more than a week after he was reported missing remains shrouded in mystery

Kyle Wood is currently serving a minimum of 30 months in prison for the death of his infant son Kaiden

By Tom Balmforth KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine said it struck Russian naval targets and port infrastructure early on Wednesday in the

It was classic Boris Johnson to be on a trip to Cairo when he lobbed yet another political

This week’s new entertainment releases include an album from Jonas Brothers, Nintendo releasing a fresh Legend of Zelda video game and PBS’ “Great Performances” celebrating 50 years of Broadway with a starry concert

Authorities in Pakistan are promising $6,800 in compensation for each of nearly 100 poor Christians who lost their homes when a Muslim mob angered over the alleged desecration of a Quran burned at least 19 churches and damaged houses