Almost 700 people were arrested across France on Thursday as a wave of protests swept the country for a third night following the fatal police shooting of a teenage boy that was captured on video.
France’s elite police force, the RAID, were deployed to the cities of Bordeaux, Lyon, Roubaix, Marseille and Lille, to help contain the protests.
Confrontations flared up between protesters and police in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre – where the
17-year-old named Nahel was killed days before – and in the southern port city of Marseille.Amid burning debris, “vengeance pour Nael” appeared to be spray painted on a wall in Nanterre, which translates to “revenge for Nael” in reference to the slain teenager and using an alternative spelling of his name, according to footage from the suburb.
A bank was set on fire in Nanterre, according to photographs from the scene, and 15 people have been taken in for questioning by police after a march held in memory of the teenager turned violent.
Protesters threw fireworks at police officers in Marseille, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV, while footage from the northern city of Lille showed fires burning on streets and running riot police officers. Six people were taken in for questioning after participating in a protest banned by authorities in Lille, the regional authority said in a Facebook post.
At least 650 people were arrested in the protests across France from Thursday night into Friday morning, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFMTV.
More than half of those arrests took place in the Paris region, in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, BFMTV reported, citing Paris police.
Earlier, Darmanin said police were instructed to “intervene systematically” and expressed support for the police officers and firefighters who “are doing a courageous job.”
President Emmanuel Macron will hold a crisis meeting today for the second day in a row following Thursday night’s violence, BFMTV reported.
Authorities had hoped to avoid a repeat of the scenes that played out Wednesday night, when police stations, town halls and schools were set alight in various cities and about 150 people were arrested. The Interior Ministry earlier said it planned on deploying 40,000 police officers across the country Thursday – including 5,000 in Paris – to quell any potential unrest.
The unrest broke out Tuesday, hours after a police traffic stop in Nanterre resulted in the killing of Nahel. Over the course of a chaotic night, 40 cars were burned and 24 police officers injured, French authorities claimed. The police officer was put under formal investigation for voluntary homicide and placed in preliminary detention, BFMTV reported Thursday.
On Thursday, an estimated 6,000 people, according to BFMTV, joined a march to honor Nahel led by his mother in Nanterre.
Many wore shirts emblazoned with “justice for Nahel,” while others shouted the slogan. Some were seen holding signs saying “the police kill.” A lawyer for the family on Thursday confirmed the spelling of the boy’s name as Nahel; he was initially identified as Naël.
Buses and tramways in Lille shut down after 8 p.m. local time, according to BFMTV, and a couple of Parisian suburbs have installed curfews.
Bus and tram services were also suspended in the Île-de-France region, which includes Paris, from Thursday night, the local transport authority said. Government ministers were asked to postpone non-urgent travel and remain in Paris due to the protests, a government source told CNN on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity citing French professional norms.
The violent scenes seen over the past two days have raised concerns that Nahel’s death could lead to a level of unrest and rioting not seen since 2005, when the deaths of two teenage boys hiding from police sparked three weeks of rioting and prompted the government to call a state of emergency.
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