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Paris: France 45,000 police officers and some armored vehicles were deployed to the streets on Saturday as French cities were rocked by riots for a fourth night over the shooting of a teenager at a traffic stop by an officer.
Buildings and vehicles were burned and shops looted, and the violence has plunged President Emmanuel Macron into the most serious crisis of his leadership since the yellow vest protests that began in 2018.
Unrest broke out across the country, including in cities such as Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille as well as Paris where Nahl M. was shot. , a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan descent, on Tuesday. Nanterre suburb.
His death, caught on video, sparked longstanding complaints by poor and racially mixed urban communities of police violence and racism.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said early on Saturday that 270 people had been arrested overnight, bringing the total to more than 1,100 since the unrest erupted.
Friday night’s arrests included 80 people in the southern city of Marseille, France’s second largest city and home to many people of North African descent.
Pictures on social media showed an explosion rocking the Old Port area of ​​Marseille. City authorities said they are investigating the cause but do not believe there were any injuries.
Police said rioters in central Marseille ransacked a firearms store and stole some hunting rifles, but no ammunition. Police said a person was arrested and a gun was likely from the shop. The store is now under police guard.
Ask for more troops
The mayor of Marseille, Benoit Bayan, called on the national government to send additional troops immediately. “Scenes of looting and violence are unacceptable,” he said in a tweet late on Friday.
Three police officers were slightly injured in the early hours of Saturday morning. A police helicopter flew overhead.
And in Lyon, France’s third largest city, the gendarmerie police deployed armored personnel carriers and a helicopter to quell unrest.
Darmanin asked local authorities across France to halt the passage of buses and trams from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) and said 45,000 officers had been deployed, 5,000 more than on Thursday.
He wrote to the firefighters and police officers: “The coming hours will be decisive and I know I can count on your impeccable efforts.”
In response to a question on the main evening TV news program broadcast by TF1 whether the government could declare a state of emergency, Darmanin said: “Quite simply, we do not rule out any hypothesis and we will see after tonight what the President of the Republic will choose.”
In Paris, police evacuated protesters from the famous Place de la Concorde in the city center on Friday night after an impromptu demonstration.
More than 200 police officers have been injured since the unrest broke out and hundreds of rioters have been arrested, Darmanin said, adding that their average age is 17.
Macron earlier urged parents to get children off the streets.
The players of the French national football team issued a rare statement calling for calm. “The violence must stop to make room for grief, dialogue and reconstruction,” they said in a statement posted on the Instagram account of star Kylian Mbappe.
Looters have looted dozens of shops and set about 2,000 cars on fire since the riots began.
Events that included two concerts at the Stade de France on the outskirts of the capital were cancelled. Tour de France organizers said they are ready to adapt to any situation when the cycling race enters the country on Monday, after kicking off in the Spanish city of Bilbao.
Macron has a crisis meeting
Macron left the EU summit in Brussels early to attend the second crisis ministerial meeting in two days. He asked social media to remove “the most sensitive footage of the riot” and to reveal the identities of users who foment violence.
Darmanin met with representatives from Meta, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok. Snapchat said it has zero tolerance for content that promotes violence. A friend of the victim’s family, Mohamed Jacoby, who watched Nahil grow up, said the anger was fueled by a sense of grievance after incidents of police violence against ethnic minority communities, many of them from former French colonies.
“We are fed up… We are French too. We are against violence, not scum,” he said.
Macron denies that there is systemic racism within law enforcement agencies. Videos on social media showed urban landscapes on fire. A tram was set on fire in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses were destroyed at a depot in Aubervilliers, north of Paris.
Some tourists were concerned, others supportive of the protesters.
American tourist Enzo Santo Domingo said in Paris that “racism, problems with the police and minorities is an important ongoing issue and it is important to address it.”
Some Western governments have warned citizens to be careful.
In Geneva, the UN human rights office stressed the importance of peaceful assembly and urged the French authorities to ensure that the use of force by the police is non-discriminatory.
“This is a moment for the country to address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement,” said spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.
The policeman who prosecutors say admitted to fatally shooting the teen in protective custody is under formal investigation for murder – the equivalent of being charged under Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions.
His lawyer, Laurent Franck Lenard, said his client aimed at the driver’s leg but was hit when the car took off, causing gunfire towards his chest. “It’s clear (the officer) didn’t want to kill the driver,” Leonard said on BFM TV.
The unrest brought back memories of three weeks of riots across the country in 2005 that forced then-President Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency after the deaths of two young men who were electrocuted at an electricity substation while hiding from the police.
Buildings and vehicles were burned and shops looted, and the violence has plunged President Emmanuel Macron into the most serious crisis of his leadership since the yellow vest protests that began in 2018.
Unrest broke out across the country, including in cities such as Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille as well as Paris where Nahl M. was shot. , a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan descent, on Tuesday. Nanterre suburb.
His death, caught on video, sparked longstanding complaints by poor and racially mixed urban communities of police violence and racism.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said early on Saturday that 270 people had been arrested overnight, bringing the total to more than 1,100 since the unrest erupted.
Friday night’s arrests included 80 people in the southern city of Marseille, France’s second largest city and home to many people of North African descent.
Pictures on social media showed an explosion rocking the Old Port area of ​​Marseille. City authorities said they are investigating the cause but do not believe there were any injuries.
Police said rioters in central Marseille ransacked a firearms store and stole some hunting rifles, but no ammunition. Police said a person was arrested and a gun was likely from the shop. The store is now under police guard.
Ask for more troops
The mayor of Marseille, Benoit Bayan, called on the national government to send additional troops immediately. “Scenes of looting and violence are unacceptable,” he said in a tweet late on Friday.
Three police officers were slightly injured in the early hours of Saturday morning. A police helicopter flew overhead.
And in Lyon, France’s third largest city, the gendarmerie police deployed armored personnel carriers and a helicopter to quell unrest.
Darmanin asked local authorities across France to halt the passage of buses and trams from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) and said 45,000 officers had been deployed, 5,000 more than on Thursday.
He wrote to the firefighters and police officers: “The coming hours will be decisive and I know I can count on your impeccable efforts.”
In response to a question on the main evening TV news program broadcast by TF1 whether the government could declare a state of emergency, Darmanin said: “Quite simply, we do not rule out any hypothesis and we will see after tonight what the President of the Republic will choose.”
In Paris, police evacuated protesters from the famous Place de la Concorde in the city center on Friday night after an impromptu demonstration.
More than 200 police officers have been injured since the unrest broke out and hundreds of rioters have been arrested, Darmanin said, adding that their average age is 17.
Macron earlier urged parents to get children off the streets.
The players of the French national football team issued a rare statement calling for calm. “The violence must stop to make room for grief, dialogue and reconstruction,” they said in a statement posted on the Instagram account of star Kylian Mbappe.
Looters have looted dozens of shops and set about 2,000 cars on fire since the riots began.
Events that included two concerts at the Stade de France on the outskirts of the capital were cancelled. Tour de France organizers said they are ready to adapt to any situation when the cycling race enters the country on Monday, after kicking off in the Spanish city of Bilbao.
Macron has a crisis meeting
Macron left the EU summit in Brussels early to attend the second crisis ministerial meeting in two days. He asked social media to remove “the most sensitive footage of the riot” and to reveal the identities of users who foment violence.
Darmanin met with representatives from Meta, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok. Snapchat said it has zero tolerance for content that promotes violence. A friend of the victim’s family, Mohamed Jacoby, who watched Nahil grow up, said the anger was fueled by a sense of grievance after incidents of police violence against ethnic minority communities, many of them from former French colonies.
“We are fed up… We are French too. We are against violence, not scum,” he said.
Macron denies that there is systemic racism within law enforcement agencies. Videos on social media showed urban landscapes on fire. A tram was set on fire in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses were destroyed at a depot in Aubervilliers, north of Paris.
Some tourists were concerned, others supportive of the protesters.
American tourist Enzo Santo Domingo said in Paris that “racism, problems with the police and minorities is an important ongoing issue and it is important to address it.”
Some Western governments have warned citizens to be careful.
In Geneva, the UN human rights office stressed the importance of peaceful assembly and urged the French authorities to ensure that the use of force by the police is non-discriminatory.
“This is a moment for the country to address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement,” said spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.
The policeman who prosecutors say admitted to fatally shooting the teen in protective custody is under formal investigation for murder – the equivalent of being charged under Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions.
His lawyer, Laurent Franck Lenard, said his client aimed at the driver’s leg but was hit when the car took off, causing gunfire towards his chest. “It’s clear (the officer) didn’t want to kill the driver,” Leonard said on BFM TV.
The unrest brought back memories of three weeks of riots across the country in 2005 that forced then-President Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency after the deaths of two young men who were electrocuted at an electricity substation while hiding from the police.
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