- Mehdi, an 18-year-old from the Cité Maison Blanche in Marseille, died on February 14 after a chase with the police, engaged after a robbery.
- A white march is organized this Saturday in tribute.
- While an IGPN investigation is underway, the victim's relatives ask: "What makes a youngster get up in the morning to go and rob? "
"RIP Mehdi". In the room at the foot of the Cité Blanche city, in the 14th arrondissement of Marseille, the banner is ready for the white march organized this Saturday at the request of the family. Many young people pass their heads, faces mixed with sadness and anger contained after the death of Mehdi, 18, killed Friday by the police after a chase after a robbery. "The atmosphere is very tense," recognizes Nair Abdallah, spokesperson for the collective of residents of the White House who, since the evening of the drama, deploys all its force of conviction to hold "the time of mourning".
"This white march, it is there to say to France, not" stop the police, do not kill our young people ", it would be ridiculous to be in this anti-cop hatred, but to say that justice must be done be done, he explains. We will not go in their direction, we will not make a riot, we just want justice to be done in a court. The collective thus has "no confidence" in the IGPN investigation, opened in parallel with judicial information on the robbery of the Lidl, in a district close to the city center. On the other hand, he wants the “human rights defender to take over” the case.
“A family in shock. "
In the neighborhood, videos are shooting, as are testimonies from the city of Marronniers, where the chase ended on Friday with the deadly shots from the North Bac. “Anyone who has seen or filmed can come forward to the IGPN, they have nothing to fear, invites Me Clément Dalançon, lawyer for Mehdi's father. It's a family in shock. Their desire is to know the truth about the exact circumstances of the use of weapons by the police. "
"Even if it had really gone as they say, that the little one would have put them at stake, there is at least a first summons, and once the body is on the ground, we call the firefighters, we do not pass it the handcuffs ”, is moved by Dandy *, from the Maison Blanche collective, who from the age of 25 saw Mehdi grow up. "They were little ones, I didn't want them to do anything stupid," he continues. Mehdi, he had a smile all the time, he was curious to know everything. I found myself in him with his character not to remain in place. I can tell you, for having seen the closet he shares with his brother, he does not have the wardrobe of a robber ”.
“It's not a settling of scores, it's worse. "
The day before he died, Nair remembers telling him "to calm down a bit", far from imagining what happened next: "He had problems with no one. What makes a youngster get up in the morning to go and rob? Who Killed Mehdi? ". “We made a heavy failure on this young man whom we have been following since his nine years. We would have preferred him to take twenty years in prison but to be alive, ”confides Nair Abdallah, deploring the“ abandonment ”of working-class neighborhoods by politicians. "It's not a settling of scores, it's worse," he continues. It is those who are supposed to protect us who shot him. We hope that this will be the last victim of the police. "
Like a white march under the sign of peace, the Maison Blanche collective is campaigning more than ever for a real local police force. “When I was 10 years old, we lost old people, and I remember that the police came, stayed with us. I want to tell them today, come with us to the neighborhoods, chat with us. "
* The first name has been changed
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- Society
- Police
- Car chase
- White market
- Robbery