Highlights:
- More than 700 arrests made as riots continue in France following the death of a 17-year-old boy at the hands of the police.
- Mayor’s home attacked and set on fire, with injuries to the mayor’s wife and one of their children.
- Nationwide, 719 arrests were made for carrying objects that can be used as weapons or projectiles.
- Despite a calmer night, significant damage was reported, including 577 vehicles and 74 buildings set on fire.
- Concerns abroad as European countries issue travel advisories and the Chinese consulate warns citizens to exercise caution due to the violence. Iran calls for restraint and an end to violent treatment of the population.
The riots triggered by the death of a 17-year-old boy at the hands of the police continued in France in the early hours of Sunday morning, with a new night of violence less intense than the previous ones but with more than 700 arrests [source], the government announced.
In L’Haÿ les Roses, a small town in the suburbs of Paris, several individuals attacked the home of the mayor, a member of the Republicans party (right, opposition), destroying the door with a car which they then set on fire.
The mayor’s wife, who was in the mayor’s office at the time of the incident, and one of his two young children were slightly injured.
The Interior Ministry announced a total of 719 arrests nationwide in the early hours of Sunday morning, in particular for carrying objects that can be used as weapons or projectiles.
In the early hours of Saturday morning the figure had been 1,300 arrests, the highest since Tuesday.
“Calmer night thanks to the determined action of the forces of law and order,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Twitter.
Despite that some 45 police and gendarmes were injured, 577 vehicles and 74 buildings were set on fire and 871 fires were recorded on public roads, the ministry said Sunday.
For the second night in a row, the ministry mobilized 45,000 police and gendarmes, including 7,000 in Paris and the capital’s suburbs, with significant reinforcements in Marseille (south) and Lyon (central east), the main cities hit the previous day by clashes, destruction and looting.
The video of the death of young Nahel by a point-blank shot by a policeman during a traffic stop on Tuesday in Nanterre, near Paris, sparked a wave of violence across the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who on Saturday decided to postpone his state visit to Germany scheduled from Sunday to Tuesday, is experiencing his second major crisis in a few months after the demonstrations against the pension reform.
– Concern abroad –
Violence in France, which will host this year’s Rugby World Cup and in 2024 the Olympic Games, is of concern abroad.
Several European countries, including the United Kingdom, advised their citizens not to travel to areas affected by the violence.
The Chinese consulate in Marseille asked citizens to be “vigilant and exercise caution” after state media reported that stones were thrown at a bus carrying Chinese tourists in that city.
For its part Iran called on the French government to “put an end to the violent treatment” of its population and to “show restraint.”
The violence and anger of the youths of the popular neighborhoods are reminiscent of the riots that shook France in 2005, after the death of two teenagers chased by the police.
In Marseille, on Canebière Avenue, the heart of France’s second city, a large number of police, supported by elite units (Raid and GIGN) managed to disperse the groups of young people who the day before caused chaos, AFP journalists indicated.
“They came especially to smash everything, steal and then leave,” said a shopkeeper at the Whiting mall, Youcef Bettahar.
In Paris, the police deployed a major device on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, where shop windows were protected with wooden planks and groups of young people could be seen under the watchful eye of officers.
In an attempt to curb the spiraling violence, many French municipalities, particularly in the Paris region, imposed a curfew and banned buses and streetcars from 21h00 (19h00 GMT).
Nahel, the 17-year-old teenager who was shot dead Tuesday by a policeman, was buried Saturday in Nanterre, near Paris, in the presence of his mother, grandmother and several hundred people during a “very quiet” ceremony, a witness told AFP.
The policeman who shot him, 38, has been in custody since Tuesday, charged with voluntary manslaughter.