(AFP) An Egyptian migrant has died after being shot at by French police who tried to stop a van that had rammed through immigration controls on the Italian border, prosecutors said Thursday.
The issue of police violence has been thrust into the heart of a tight French parliamentary election battle after a string of deaths caused by police in recent months.
The 35-year-old Egyptian “died yesterday (Wednesday) in the early evening,” deputy Nice prosecutor Parvine Derivery told AFP.
Italian authorities had warned that a van carrying illegal migrants was in the town of Sospel, on the French side of the border with Italy.
French border police chased the van after it refused to stop until another police team intervened 30 kilometres (20 miles) away.
