A fundraiser for the family of the police officer who killed a 17-year-old boy in Paris raised more than $1.5 million in four days.
The GoFundMe campaign originally intended to raise only $54,000; however, donations from more than 46,000 people helped surpass that amount. According to The Washington Post, a fundraiser for the mother of the victim, Nahel M., who has been identified as being of North African descent, has managed to bring in $200,000. The teenager was killed during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb last week. Violent protests soon followed, as Paris residents debated the intersections of race, identity, and police brutality.
Much like the protests of 2020 in the wake of several murders of Black people by law enforcement in America, a clear line has been drawn by Parisians. The GoFundMe created for the officer’s family was organized by Jean Messiha, who supported former far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour, according to The Washington Post. Far-left lawmaker Mathilde Panot demanded that the GoFundMe be removed from the site, in a tweet that requested that the government act on the teenager’s behalf. “Killing a young North African in Paris, France in 2023 would pay off big,” she said.
En 2019, une cagnotte pour le boxeur gilet jaune Christophe Dettinger était fermée en moins de 48 heures.
En 2023, la cagnotte en soutien au policier responsable du meurtre de Nahel récolte plusieurs centaines de milliers d’euros… sans aucune réaction gouvernementale.
Tuer un…
— Mathilde Panot (@MathildePanot) July 2, 2023
There were calls for GoFundMe to investigate whether the page violated the company’s terms, which clearly state that raising funds for the legal defense of alleged “financial and violent” crimes is prohibited. However, the company did not feel the campaign was a violation.
“This fundraiser is within our terms of service as funds will be utilized to support the officer’s family,” a spokesperson for the company said, according to The Washington Post.
When asked about the funds raised for the man responsible for the death of her grandson, the teenager’s grandmother said, “My heart aches.”