Macron says France needs to address causes of unrest prompted by police killing of teen

Flowers lay at the tomb of Nahel Merzouk Wednesday, July 5, 2023 in a cemetery in Nanterre, a Paris suburb. Video of the June 27, 2023 killing showed two police officers at the window of the car driven by Nahel, one with his gun pointed at the driver. As the teenager pulled forward, the officer fired once through the windshield. Nahel's death caused five nights of unrest in France. (AP Photo/Cara Anna)

PARIS (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for order and calm, and efforts to address the roots of several days of unrest around France that was sparked by the police killing of a 17-year-old boy.

The police officer accused of the shooting death of is in custody on a charge of voluntary homicide, and a judge in Versailles on Thursday rejected his request for release pending further investigation.

“We all lived through an important moment in the life of our nation,” Macron said in the southern city of Pau on the edge of the Pyrenees. He said that France now needs “order, calm, unity. And then to work on the deep causes of what happened.”

He didn’t address what those causes are. The French leader has blamed parents of young rioters and social networks including for fueling violence that spread to around 500 cities and towns.

Some activists, along with residents of the low-income neighborhoods where the violence began, say the killing was the latest evidence of systematic police brutality and unaddressed . Merzouk was of north African origin.

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