A protester walks past a burning car during clashes with police in Le Port, French Indian Ocean island of Réunion. Photo: RICHARD BUE/AFP
Police made more than 1,300 arrests during the fourth night of violence and looting sweeping France ahead of the funeral on Saturday of a teenager who was killed by police during a traffic stop.
The government said the violence had “decreased” from previous nights, but the interior ministry reported 1,311 arrests across the country overnight and 79 police and gendarmes injured.
That's more than any night since since the protests started on Tuesday, triggered by the death of 17-year-old Nahel by a police bullet.
Preliminary ministry figures released early Saturday also include 1,350 cars and 234 buildings set on fire. , and 2560 cases of arson in public places.
Clashes continued despite France deploying 45,000 officers, the highest number on any night since the protests began, backed by light armor and elite police units.
Protesters looted restaurants and shops in Strasbourg. Photo: SATHIRI KELPA/ANADOLU
They were unable to stop the looting in the cities of Marseille, Lyon and Grenoble, when gangs of rioters often robbed shops in hoods.
Despite this, the rain has been pouring down on Paris and its suburbs since Saturday morning, riots have also broken out there, with almost half of the nationwide arrests, 406 people, were made in and around the capital, a police source said.
But in During a visit to Mantes-la-Jolie, west of Paris, on Saturday, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the nighttime violence was “much less intense.”
Darmanin announced an “exceptional” deployment of police and gendarmes to deal with the unrest over the death of Nahel, who will be buried on Saturday in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, where he lived and died.
French Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin gives an interview to the evening newscast of the French TV channel TF1 Photo: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP was the epicenter of the riots, and nine people were arrested for carrying Molotov cocktails and cans of gasoline.
The France national football team has joined the calls for an end to the clashes.
“A time of violence must give way to mourning, dialogue and reconstruction,” the team said in a statement posted on social media by Paris Saint-Germain captain and superstar Kylian Mbappe.
Les Bleus said they were “shocked by the brutal death of the young Nahel”, but asked that violence give way to “other peaceful and constructive ways of expressing themselves”.
Violence hit Marseille
The southern port city of Marseille is once again the scene of clashes and looting in the center and further north in long-abandoned, low-income neighborhoods that President Emmanuel Macron visited earlier in the week.
Marseille police said the rioters and looters were ” very mobile” young people who often wore masks.
Demonstrators clash with riot police in Marseille Photo: SEBASTIEN NOGIER/EPA- EFE
A major fire “related to the riots” broke out in a supermarket, according to a police source.
Marseille Mayor Benoît Payan called on law enforcement agencies to provide assistance from the central government to cope.
Looting and clashes between hooded protesters and police also took place in parts of Grenoble, Saint-Étienne and Lyon.
Buses and trams in France stopped running after 21:00 local time after several were destroyed in recent days, and the sale of large fireworks and flammable liquids is prohibited.
A man gestures next to a burning container in Paris. Photo: JUAN MEDINA/REUTERS
Protests even erupted in Réunion, a French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean, where rioters set fire to a car.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne also announced the cancellation of major events across the country, including two concerts by popular singer Mylène Farmer this weekend at the Stade de France.
Protest map in France
Nahel's murder revived longstanding dissatisfaction with the police and racial profiling in low-income, multi-ethnic France. suburb.
The teen's mother, Muniya, said on Thursday that the 38-year-old officer, who was detained and charged with manslaughter, “saw the face of an Arab, a small child, and wanted to take his life.”
But Mr Macron, who initially denounced the “unforgivable” death, also criticized the “unacceptable exploitation of a teenager's death” in some quarters and vowed to work with social media to curb “copycat violence.”
He also urged parents take responsibility for underage rioters, a third of whom were “young or very young”.
The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday that the killing of the North African teenager was “a moment for the country to seriously address the serious issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement.”
A policeman guards the entrance to the building, standing next to the name 'Nahel', painted on a column during the protests in Nantes. SEBASTIEN SALOM-GOMIS/AFP The unrest causes concern abroad
The unrest has caused concern abroad, with the Rugby World Cup in France in the autumn and the Olympic Games in Paris in the summer of 2024.
UK and other European countries have updated their travel advisories to warn tourists to stay away from unrest-affected areas.
“Our hotel members have experienced a wave of cancellations across all areas affected by destruction and collisions. ” said Chef Thierry Marks, President of the premier association of hospitality and catering employers.
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