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POLICE

Three French police charged over man’s death during riots

Three French police officers were charged on Thursday over the death of a 27-year-old man in the southern city of Marseille in early July during nationwide rioting, prosecutors said.

Three French police charged over man's death during riots
French riot police officers next to a burning out trash bin during rioting in Marseille. Illustration photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP

The three will be charged with “armed violence”, the prosecutor said, after the autopsy of the man who died during riots showed marks on his chest consistent with the impact of a shot from a blast ball commonly used by police.

The three are also banned from having any contact with plaintiffs in the case, and from participating in any police contingent concerned with urban riot control or large-scale events.

They had been arrested on Tuesday over the incident, the only known death linked to the unrest that gripped France in late June and early July over killing of a teenager by a policeman during a traffic check outside Paris on June 27th.

The riots were met by a forceful police response.

The man, Mohamed Bendriss – a married father of one whose widow is now expecting a second child – died after feeling unwell while riding a scooter.

The prosecutor’s office has said it considers it “probable” that the man’s death was “caused by a violent impact to the thorax caused by the firing of a projectile of the blast ball type”.

The decision by the prosecutor comes after a separate case in which four Marseille officers were charged with a violent assault on a 21-year-old man, which also took place during the rioting. He was so badly injured that surgeons had to remove a large part of his skull to save his life.

After one of the charged officers was remanded in custody, police in Marseille called in sick en masse in protest, while officers across the country placed themselves on restricted duties – essentially refusing to respond to non-emergency calls.

READ ALSO Why are police in Marseille refusing to go to work?

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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