2023-07-01 01:02:50
In view of the riots that have been going on in France for days following a fatal police shot at a 17-year-old, the government is using increasingly harsh means to get the situation under control again. In order to prevent renewed violent protests, they mobilized 45,000 police officers and gendarmes for Saturday night. In addition, the traffic of buses and trams was stopped nationwide in the evening. Nevertheless, riots broke out again.
In the cities of Lyon, Marseille and Grenoble, roving groups looted shops on Friday evening. Demonstrators also set fire to cars and garbage cans again. In Strasbourg, rioters attacked an Apple Store and other businesses before nightfall.
The mayor of Marseille called on the French government to immediately send more law enforcement officers to the port city. “The scenes of looting and violence are unacceptable,” he wrote in a tweet late Friday night. Images on social media show an explosion in the old port of Marseille. According to the authorities, the cause is still unclear. There were no injuries.
The security forces then sent “reinforcements” to the port city in southern France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter. According to him, more than 1,100 people have been arrested since the riots broke out in France, 270 of them on Friday evening alone.
President Emmanuel Macron had previously denounced an “unacceptable instrumentalization of the death of a young person” at a crisis meeting. Around a third of those arrested are “young, sometimes very young”. Macron appealed to parents to ensure that their children do not take part in the violent protests.
The President also called on online networks such as Snapchat or Tiktok to “deal responsibly” with the protests. “Violent gatherings” are organized on these platforms.
The gendarmerie used armored vehicles on Saturday night to get the situation under control. Major events have been canceled across France. On the instructions of the Ministry of the Interior, bus and tram traffic across the country was stopped from 9 p.m. The sale of fireworks, petrol cans and flammable and chemical products should also be systematically prohibited. At least three municipalities near Paris, as well as several other places, imposed night curfews.
In connection with the unrest in France, there have also been riots in some French overseas territories. In Cayenne, the capital of South American French Guiana, a man was killed by a ricochet on Friday night (local time), the local authorities said. According to media reports, the man was an employee of the local administration.
According to a report by the regional portal France-Antilles, there was also violence in the Caribbean overseas territory of Martinique on Friday night. Around 20 to 30 hooded people threw stones at police officers in the capital, Fort-de-France. Garbage cans were set on fire in several places.
The protests and riots were triggered by the death of 17-year-old Nahel M. The youth was shot dead by a police officer during a traffic check in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday. He is to be buried on Saturday, according to Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry. An investigation has been launched against the suspected shooter. According to the public prosecutor’s office, he is accused of “intentional homicide”.
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