FRENCH POLICE SAID they had arrested 35 people after a demonstration by the capital’s Asian community over the killing of a Chinese man by a policeman turned violent.
The Paris police force said that around 150 “members of the Asian community” gathered late yesterday outside a police station in the northeast of the capital.
Three officers were slightly injured in the running clashes and one police vehicle was damaged by an incendiary device.
The angry demonstrators were protesting against police violence after an officer shot dead a Chinese man on Sunday night.
Police sources told AFP that officers were called to the Chinese man’s house after reports of a domestic dispute.
The man attacked the officer with a knife “as soon as the door opened”, injuring him, according to these sources.
A police colleague then opened fire, killing the man, authorities say.
However, Calvin Job, a lawyer for the relatives of the dead man, said the family “totally disputes this version of events.”
“He didn’t injure anyone,” said Job.
According to the family, there was no domestic dispute and a neighbour called the police after hearing shouting.
“Police forced open the door of the apartment, pushing him back,” the lawyer said. The Chinese man did not rush towards the officers who “shot without warning,” according to the lawyer’s version of events.
A police watchdog will interview the family later today, Job said.
Beijing complaint
As tempers frayed between Paris and Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry said it had filed an official complaint to France over the events in the French capital.
Beijing calls on Paris to “guarantee the safety and legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens in France and to treat the reaction of Chinese people to this incident in a rational way,” ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing.
“Meanwhile, we hope that our citizens… in France can express their wishes and demands in a lawful and reasonable way,” the spokeswoman added.
Estimates put the size of the Chinese community in Paris at between 200,000 and 300,000. Many of the first-generation Chinese nationals who live in the French capital came here in the 1980s and many work in the textile industry.
French police have come under fire for suspected violence in recent months following the highly publicised case of a black youth worker allegedly raped with a police baton.
There have been several demonstrations since the 2 February incident involving the 22-year-old named only as Theo.
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