France Grapples with Rising Police Shootings and Controversial Firearms Legislation Amid Nationwide Protests

Paris, France – Issam El Khalfaoui’s teenage son Souhail was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in Marseille in 2021, an incident that exposed what the family describes as systemic failures in law enforcement accountability.

“When my son was killed, we realized how difficult it was to uncover the truth. The police and justice system took different actions to cover up the evidence,” El Khalfaoui told Al Jazeera. “The IGPN [National Police] lost the video that captured my son’s murder. The witnesses were not interviewed, and the case file completely disappeared from the court. That is the reality.”

France records one of the highest rates of fatal police shootings in Western Europe, with at least 69 people killed by police or gendarmerie officers in 2024, compared to 49 in 2023 and 50 in 2022.

The scrutiny intensified during recent clashes in education protests, where a 15-year-old lost a hand from a police stun grenade, and another officer threw a tear gas canister at close range, shattering a 14-year-old’s jaw and several teeth. The use of stun grenades has since been suspended. Authorities report that 700 police officers were also injured during the unrest.

The controversy coincides with a proposed bill that would presume police officers acted in self-defense when using firearms, now pending a Senate vote.

Khalfaoui launched a petition against the draft law that garnered over 700,000 signatures. Critics have labeled the measure a “license to kill,” though it was approved by the National Assembly in July.

Advocacy groups including Stop State Violence (SAVE), the Human Rights League (LDH), and Amnesty International, alongside left-wing lawmakers, organized protests in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and Toulouse, drawing nearly 50,000 participants on September 20.

Under the proposed law, police officers and gendarmes would be presumed to have acted in self-defense when using weapons in the line of duty, shifting the burden of proof to the complainant.

For El Khalfaoui, who co-founded SAVE following his 19-year-old son’s death, the legislation would further strengthen police authority.

“In France, there has been a seizure of power by police unions,” El Khalfaoui stated. “There’s a militarization of the police that has no equivalent in Europe, and resources have been allocated to ensure the police’s loyalty to the government.”

El Khalfaoui argues the draft law entrenches a culture of impunity, stating, “It will be impossible to refute this presumption of self-defense.”

Bruno Bartocetti, a regional police union representative, defended the El Khalfaoui case as an act of “self-defense beyond any doubt” and claimed Souhail wanted to “start a fight” during the incident.

The judicial case was closed in December 2021 but reopened after the family’s attorney filed a complaint for “obstruction of the discovery of truth” following the disappearance of surveillance footage. A new judge was appointed in 2025, with the investigation ongoing.

Draft Law Faces Criticism Over Police Accountability Concerns

Nathalie Tehio, president of France’s Human Rights League (LDH), warns that the bill “enables police impunity.” She explained to Al Jazeera, “If there’s no investigation anymore, that means the police officer can no longer be held responsible for anything. France is a European leader in the number of people killed by the police.”

Research indicates that a 2017 law permitting police to use firearms during non-compliant traffic stops led to a fivefold increase in fatal shootings. While the law initially received broad political support, several left-wing politicians have opposed the recent draft bill and participated in protests.

“All parliamentary groups voted in favor of this law in 2017 by a very large majority. There was support across the political spectrum, from the left to the right and the far-right,” noted Sebastien Roche, a researcher at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), specializing in police and democracy.

Following legislative elections in 2024, President Emmanuel Macron’s party failed to secure an absolute majority, necessitating coalitions with other parties to pass legislation.

“Successive governments under Emmanuel Macron, especially during his second term, have adopted ideas from the far right,” Roche observed.

With France’s presidential elections approaching in six months, political parties are actively competing for voter support. Roche emphasized, “The competition is already underway, and in this contest, the right is trying to appeal to far-right voters because the right in France has lost significant ground to the far-right in national and European elections.”

In 2023, riots spread across the country after a police officer shot and killed 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk, a boy of Algerian descent.

Roche notes that discrimination leads to increased traffic stops, placing communities of color at higher risk of police violence. “The way the police monitor people’s behavior is unfavorable to non-white people,” he said, citing studies he conducted in Bouches-du-Rhone in the Marseille region. “The probability of being stopped is more than 50 percent higher for people who are not white.”

In 2001, Omer Mas Capitolin was attending a work meeting when a police intervention outside shook the building. Mas Capitolin went downstairs to request the officers move, but police entered the association and handcuffed him.

“They used a chokehold and pinned me to the ground. I couldn’t breathe or speak,” Mas Capitolin told Al Jazeera.

Mas Capitolin later founded the Community House for Supportive Development (MCDS), a grassroots organization combating police violence and discrimination. In 2021, six NGOs, including MCDS, filed a class action lawsuit against the French government, alleging systemic racial discrimination in police identity checks.

“We can call these identity checks discriminatory, along with everything that goes with them, including refusal to comply, contempt of authority, resistance, and increasingly today, the issue of illegal and excessive fines imposed on young people,” Mas Capitolin said.

In October 2023, France’s high court recognized racial profiling during police identity checks, a ruling described by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as “historic.” However, the court did not order authorities to implement “necessary measures to end this long-standing, abusive practice,” according to HRW.

Additionally, in 2021, the French state was condemned for “gross negligence” during an identity check involving three high school students in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. The previous year, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for racial profiling in the case of Karim Touil.

Despite these rulings, Mas Capitolin observes that “everything is moving in the opposite direction.” He expressed concern, stating, “France is dealing with kids using military-grade weapons. Police officers are over-equipped and over-armed. I’m devastated.”

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