French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday, June 30, 2023, that about 667 people were arrested overnight in France.
This comes as major cities in France experienced a third night of looting, fires and violence in clear indication of growing public anger triggered by the police killing of a 17-year-old teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent, Nahel M, during a traffic stop.
Even though, about 40,000 police officers were deployed across the country to contain the unrests on Thursday evening, National police disclosed that its forces faced new incidents in the cities of Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille including fires and protesters hurling fireworks.
In Nanterre, the western suburb of Paris where the teenager was killed, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police.
Protesters scrawled “Vengeance for Nahel” across buildings and bus shelters and, as night fell, a bank was set on fire before firefighters put it out and stopped flames from spreading to an apartment building above. No one was reported to be hurt.
In central Paris, a Nike shoe store was ransacked and windows were smashed along the Rue de Rivoli shopping street, Paris police said.
In Montreuil in the east of Paris, it was reported that young people armed with batons attacked a pharmacy, McDonalds, ATM and other shops. Police responded with tear gas.
In the southern city of Marseille, a library was vandalised, local officials said, and police used tear gas to disperse up to 150 people who tried to set up barricades
A town hall in Clichy-sous-Bois, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, was targeted by rioters, with footage showing the entrance to the building set on fire.
The mass protests in France have rekindled memories of riots in 2005 that shook the country for three weeks and forced then-President Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency. More than 6,000 people were arrested at that time.
That wave of violence erupted in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and spread across the country following the death of two young people electrocuted in a power substation as they hid from police. Two police officers were acquitted in a trial 10 years later.
Authorities In Clamart Impose Nightime Curfew
Local authorities in Clamart, 8km (5 miles) from central Paris, imposed a nighttime curfew until Monday, and Valerie Pecresse, who heads the greater Paris region, said all bus and tram services would be halted after 9pm (19:00 GMT) local time.
Meanwhile, the policeman who shot Nahel on Tuesday morning has apologised to his family while in custody.
His lawyer, Laurent-Franck Liénard said he was “devastated” and “doesn’t get up in the morning to kill people”. “The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family,” the lawyer added.
He also said the officer, who has been charged with voluntary homicide, was “shocked by the violence of this video,” stating that his client had aimed down towards the driver’s leg but was bumped, causing him to shoot towards his chest.
“He had to be stopped, but obviously [the officer] didn’t want to kill the driver,” Lienard said, adding that his client’s detention was being used to try to calm rioters.
France’s leaders are aware that the death of the teenager could spark a wider rebellion against police, politicians and the state.
Despite attempts to calm tensions, and the use of elite police units and large numbers of extra officers, France’s government does not yet have the situation under control.
READ ALSO: France: Police Office Who Shot Nahel To Be Investigated For Voluntary Homicide
