The facts of the case are not all out, so I won't swear to have any special knowledge. However, I do have a theory.
There are obviously three possibilities:
- This is a case of intentional murder, a trigger happy cop shooting a black kid because he was having a bad day and doesn't like blacks.
- The shooting was justified. The kid was not as harmless as some people think, and the cop was legitimately acting in self defense.
- Somewhere in between -- a killing that was not justified, but was a genuine error in judgement, not intentional killing.
Anyway, enough of that. I promised an update, not useless theorizing.
Our entire week in Paris has been dominated by news of the riots, but other than a heavier-than-usual police presence, it has not affected us. There was rioting in Nanterre, a poor immigrant suburb of Paris, but not in downtown. Until tonight, anyway.
Earlier in the day my father-in-law started messaging my wife that it's not safe to stay in Paris and she should come home at once. Annoying, but not insurmountable.
Tonight there were announcements on the subway that it will close early due to a request from the prefecture. My French is very weak; I didn't understand much but I got the gist of it. We had a very nice dinner at Club Merigny, within sight of deGaulle's dour statue, and then walked up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. All along the Champs, there were businesses closing early. We took the subway back to Chatelet and started walking up Rue St. Denis toward our rented apartment. All along St. Denis were police vans parked, including Paddy wagons and armoured cars. About halfway up, we encountered 40 riot police (literally 40, I counted.) They were, however, not deploying but actually dispersing and getting back into their vehicles. On the next street over, protesters were marching up Rue Pierre Lescot. From the side street, it looked like a peaceful march, though I didn't see much. I very much wanted to go have a closer look, but my wife wouldn't let me.
On St. Denis itself, someone had lit a garbage can on fire. Whether it was connected to the protests or just the action of some drunken kids, I cannot say.
We had planned to have an ice cream at one of the street cafes on St. Denis before going home. But my wife was really worried and demanded we go straight home.
After we got home, there was a lot of noise outside. Unfortunately my window just looks out onto an alley and not onto a major street, so I really couldn't see anything. There were some fights and a lot of police cars, but again I can't say if they were due to the protestors or just random drunken hooligans. This part of Paris has hundreds of bars and clubs, the streets are always full of drunken university-age kids, often getting into rumbles.
At one point I came to the window because there were some very angry voices screaming close by, but maddeningly, I still couldn't see around the corner no matter how far I leaned out of the window. Shortly after that, one guy and five girls came up the alleyway, obviously dolled up for clubbing. Right around my window, one of the girls said, "let's get out of here" and four of the girls went back down the alleyway. The fifth girl and the guy stood their ground. The guy soon reported, "don't worry, it's just a couple rubbies beating each other." So that one, at least, was diagnosed for me as being not riot-related. There was a loud conversation and the other four girls came back out of the alley.
Soon afterward, a couple Chinese tourists were escorted home by police officers.
The shouting continued.
Around 1 am, the unmistakable sound of water cannon. Was it being used, as it often is, by police on the protestors? Or routine street-washing? I wish I knew.
It is now 3 in the morning, and the streets are quiet. I really would have liked to go get a first-hand look at things, but the wife drew the line in the sand.
ConfederateSS.out!(The Blue and Silver Rebellion)... 
