As the country experienced a fifth night of riots after a police shot and killed a teenager, France’s Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, on Sunday, July 2, 2023, disclosed that it had been “a calmer night thanks to the resolute action of the security forces.”
However, Vincent Jeanbrun, the Mayor of a Paris suburb named l’Hay-les-Roses, divulged in a tweet that protesters “rammed a car” into his home, before “setting a fire.”
Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun noted that his wife and one of his children were injured in the 1:30 a.m. attack. They were sleeping while he was in the town hall monitoring the unrest.
Jeanbrun, a member the conservative opposition Republicans party, stated that the attack represented a new stage of “horror and ignominy” in the ongoing riots and urged the government to impose a state of emergency.
Speaking to reporters, Regional Prosecutor, Stephane Hardouin remarked that the incident had been “qualified as attempted murder.” “All measures will be taken to identify the perpetrators and have them face justice,” he added.
Hardouin disclosed that a preliminary investigation suggests the car was meant to ram the house and set it ablaze, adding that a flame accelerant was found in a bottle in the car.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne condemned the attack. “An act of the kind we saw this morning here is particularly shocking. We will let no violence get by” unpunished, she said, urging that the perpetrators be sanctioned with the “utmost severity”.
Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to Germany that was due to begin on Sunday in order to handle unrests.
Macron is slated to meet key members of his government at 19:30 (17:30 GMT) on Sunday to review the situation, after activating the government’s “crisis unit” until further notice.
A statement by the President’s office noted that Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti would participate.
According to the police,719 people were arrested nationwide on the fifth night of rioting. The interior ministry said 1,311 people had been arrested on Friday night, compared with 875 the previous night, although it described the violence as “lower in intensity”.
Local authorities all over the country announced bans on demonstrations, ordered public transport to stop running in the evening and some imposed overnight curfews in aim of quelling the protests.
Nahel, the 17-year-old whose death triggered the protests was laid to rest on Saturday, July 1, 2023 in a Muslim ceremony in Nanterre.
AMF Calls For Rally In Support Of L’Hay-Les-Roses Mayor
The Association of Mayors of France (AMF) has called on the citizens and Mayors of the country to gather in front of the townhalls around the country on Monday, July 3, 2023, to show support to Vicent Jeanbrun, the L’Hay-les-Roses Mayor whose house was attacked.
AMF president, David Lisnard stated, “The AMF has decided to call on elected officials and the population to take action; we are not giving up.”
“…And we continue our work on a daily basis so that order returns,” he added.
In other developments, the League of Human Rights, a human rights group in France, echoed its call for the law which allows French police to shoot against drivers who disobey orders to stop, to be repealed.
The 2017 law has been blamed for the killing of Nahel M during a police traffic stop on Tuesday.
It was the third of such deaths this year and followed a record 13 deaths last year. Most of those killed were of black and Arab origin.
READ ALSO: France: More Than 1,300 People Arrested After Fourth Night Of Unrests Over Nahel’s Death
