On December 20th, 20-year-old Bertrand Nzohabonayo was shot dead by police in Joué-lès-Tours, west-central France, after he reportedly attacked a police station wielding a knife with which he wounded three officers while shouting the phrase ‘god is great’ in Arabic “up until his last breath”, according to some media. The French interior minister hailed the “professionalism” and “level-headedness” of the officers involved, and an investigation into the events was immediately handed to anti-terrorist police. Burundian-born Nzohabonayo, a Muslim convert who had recently posted a photo of the flag of Islamic State on his Facebook page, has been widely presented as acting for the cause of Islamic extremism. But one week after his death, a quite different version of events has emerged. According to several witnesses, he was shot while using a knife to resist arrest outside the police station, where he was being brought for questioning over a fight involving one of the station's officers and two black youths. Yannick Sanchez reports.
