00:00 It raised more than 1.5 million euros in barely five days, with more than 80,000 participants
00:06 and one-off donations of up to 3,000 euros.
00:09 All this in order to support the family of the police officer under investigation for
00:13 the death of Nahel, killed after being stopped in the Paris suburb of Nanterre last week.
00:18 The GoFundMe campaign was set up by Jean Messiaen, a former spokesman for far-right politician
00:23 Eric Zemmour.
00:25 But after calls for it to be deleted, its founder announced that it would be halted
00:29 on Tuesday evening, making it impossible to use the money.
00:32 This police union rep defended the campaign.
00:35 "You have a mother who is on her own with a child, her husband is currently detained,
00:44 he's going to launch legal proceedings which will last a long time, and we know it will
00:49 be high profile.
00:51 His wife needs this financial support to be able to continue bringing up her child."
00:59 But is it legal?
01:00 It is authorised if its sole purpose is to support the family.
01:04 But a judge can ban it if it's used to finance fines or damages, or if it threatens public
01:10 order.
01:11 In 2021, another fundraiser was cancelled by the courts.
01:16 It had been set up to support a yellow vest protester who had been convicted of assaulting
01:21 a policeman.
01:22 "The facts of both cases are not necessarily the same.
01:28 The description of the fundraiser wasn't the same.
01:30 So all of this is really down to interpretation."
01:35 The family of Nahal say they'll sue the man behind the campaign, Jean Messiaen.
01:39 A separate fundraiser set up to raise money for Nahal's family has raised just over 350,000
01:46 euros.
01:46 (crowd chanting)
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