Paris police shoot two dead after car driven at them during election protests

Paris police shoot two dead after car driven at them during election protests
25 French police shoot 2 who failed to stop
Jamie  Micklethwaite

By Jamie Micklethwaite


Published: 25/04/2022

- 06:59

Updated: 25/04/2022

- 07:05

Officers initially spotted the car being driven the wrong way

Police fired on a car in central Paris, killing two people and leaving one other person injured, reportedFranceInfo radio and Le Figaro newspaper.

The incident, which occurred overnight, took place near the Pont Neuf in Paris.


Police had initially spotted the car driving the wrong way and had sought to make checks on it, added French media reports.

BFM TV also reported thatFrance's IGPN police watchdog body was probing the incident.

Police at the scene in Paris
Police at the scene in Paris
Reuters

The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the French capital after Emmanuel Macron was re-elected as President of France, defeating rival Marine Le Pen.

Riot police charged and sprayed teargas on demonstrators in central Paris protesting, footage from social media showed.

Police sought to break up a crowd of mostly young people who had gathered in the central neighbourhood of Chatelet to protest, images on Twitter showed.

Macron defeated Le Pen in a runoff vote earlier on Sunday by winning a second five-year term and preventing what would otherwise have been a major political upset.

Although Macron won by a comfortable margin, the abstention rate was expected to settle at the highest since 1969, with a substantial chunk of voters unwilling to vote for either Macron or Le Pen.

Between the first round of voting and Sunday's runoff, students protested outside the Sorbonne in Paris and other universities, expressing their disillusionment with the choice on offer.

More to follow...

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