‘My son was killed’ France faces backlash over proposed police firearms law

As protests rage across France, activists warn proposed law could deepen impunity. Save Share Paris, France –Issam El Khalfaoui’s teenage son Souhail was shot and killed by a police officer in 2021 in Marseille. “When my son was killed during a police traffic stop, we realised how difficult it was to bring the truth to light. The police and the justice system took different actions to cover up the evidence. We realised that this was a deeply systemic issue,” 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 hasone of the highestnumbers of fatal police shootings in Western Europe. At least 69 people were killed by police or gendarmerie officers in 2024, compared with 49 in 2023 and 50 in 2022. Now, French police are again facing scrutiny, this time over their tactics during clashes in education protests. A 15-year-old lost a hand from apolice 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 halted. Authorities say 700 police have also been injured. The unrest comes as a controversial bill that wouldpresume police officersacted in self-defence when using firearms faces a vote in the Senate. Khalfaoui launched a petition against the draft law that received more than 700,000 signatures. The measure, which critics describe as a “licence to kill”, was approved by the National Assembly in July. Several advocacy groups, including Stop State Violence (SAVE), the Human Rights League (LDH) and Amnesty International, as well as left-wing lawmakers, organised protests in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, which drew nearly 50,000 people on September 20. Under the proposed law, police officers and gendarmes would be presumed to have acted in self-defence if they used weapons in the line of duty, placing the burden of proof on the complainant. For El Khalfaoui, who co-founded SAVE after his 19-year-old son’s death, passing the law would only increase the police’s strength. “In France, there has been a seizure of power by police unions,” El Khalfaoui said. “There’s a militarisation of the police that has no equivalent in Europe, and resources have been allocated to the police to ensure the police’s loyalty to the government....